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    Home » Desserts

    Gluten-free keto carrot cake recipe

    Published: May 6, 2021 · Updated: Sep 20, 2021 by Anna · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads ·

    Jump to Recipe

    This low carb, gluten-free, keto carrot cake is moist with cream cheese frosting and tastes exactly like your regular carrot cake. It's a great sugar-free low carb cake recipe to serve during any celebration.

    Close up shot of a piece of carrot cake decorated with crushed walnuts on a small round plate.
    Jump to:
    • Ingredients and substitutions
    • Step by step directions
    • No sugar carrot cake frosting
    • Carbs in keto carrot cake
    • FAQ
    • More keto recipe
    • Recipe

    Ingredients and substitutions

    Blanched almond flour – In my opinion, almond flour gives a perfect result when making layers for the cake. The cake will be very soft and moist.

    Xanthan gum – This is not an optional ingredient. Xanthan gum will give our cake layers elasticity and will make it easy to handle them without braking them.

    Walnuts - Walnuts go in most carrot cakes, but you can also use pecans if you like.

    Nutmeg and cinnamon – A classic combo of spices for this type of cake.

    Carrots - You can pulse them in a food processor until they resemble wet sand, or just simply grate them.

    Lemons - We're going to use zest and juice to bring a pinch of acidity and freshness to this low carb keto cake.

    Unsalted butter - We need to melt it and then let it cool down a little bit before adding it to the eggs mixture.

    Eggs - Use 4 large eggs at room temperature to bind all ingredients together.

    Granulated keto-friendly sweetener - I use the blend of erythritol and stevia from Sukrin; granulated for the cake layers and powdered for the frosting.

    Baking powder - This sugar-free cake comes out quite heavy because of the carrots, nuts, and our keto-friendly flours, so we definitely need something that will fluff it up a little.

    Cream cheese and heavy whipping cream – Cake frosting that is made from cream cheese and whipping cream is soft, yet stable. It won’t melt that easily unless you place the cake into direct sunlight.

    6 steps collage image showing how to make keto carrot cake.

    Step by step directions

    For this low carb carrot cake recipe, we’ll need two 8-inch (20cm) cake pans or spring forms of the same size. Line them with parchment paper (both bottoms and walls) and set aside.

    In a large mixing bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking powder, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.

    In another bowl, add sweetener and eggs and beat on high with a hand mixer for around 10 minute or until the mixture is pale yellow and tripled in size. This will help to incorporate a lot of air into the batter, which will help to lift the cake while baking and make it less dense. Then, add the butter, heavy cream, and lemon juice and beat on low for few seconds, or just until incorporated. It’s okay if the egg mixture loses a lot of volume during this step.

    Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Using a spatula, fold in until no dry ingredients are left. Next, add the carrots, walnuts, and lemon zest and fold in again.

    Divide the batter between two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and baked through (toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean). 

    When our cake layers are done baking, remove them from the oven and leave them to cool down in the cake pans for around 5 minutes. Then, take them out, peel off the parchment paper, and place them onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.

    Taking a piece of carrot cake topped with crushed walnuts using a cake server.

    No sugar carrot cake frosting

    There's nothing better than a fluffy cream cheese frosting with vanilla flavoring for our sugar-free carrot cake. And it takes only a few minutes to make! 

    All we need is to beat all the frosting ingredients (they should all be cold) using a hand mixer or stand mixer on a high speed until they’re stiff peaks; 3-4 minutes. Use our cream cheese frosting on a completely cooled cake. Don’t forget to refrigerate the cake for up to 1 hour before serving it.

    Carbs in keto carrot cake

    You can cut this cake into 8 pieces. Each piece will have around 8g net carb. 

    A piece of gluten-free carrot cake topped with walnuts, one bite taken.

    FAQ

    Are carrots low carb?

    The amount of carbs in carrots is on a higher border, but it doesn't mean that we should forget about sweet, tasty, and crunchy carrots altogether. In fact, carrots are lower in net carbs than blueberries, so there's no reason to not have them on a low-carb diet! 100g carrots contain around 6.8g net carbs.

    Can I make keto carrot cake without almond flour?

    You can substitute almond flour with hazelnut flour with a 1:1 ratio.

    How long it will last in the fridge?

    Store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

    More keto recipe

    KETO STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

    EASY KETO BIRTHDAY CAKE

    GLUTEN-FREE VANILLA CUSTARD TART RECIPE

    EASY KETO CHEESECAKE BITES

    MATCHA COOKIES RECIPE

    EASY KETO BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

    Recipe

    A small round pate with a piece of carrot cake on it topped with walnuts, a grey kitchen towel on the background.

    Gluten-free keto carrot cake recipe

    This low carb, gluten-free, keto carrot cake is moist with cream cheese frosting and tastes exactly like your regular carrot cake. It's a great sugar-free low carb cake recipe to serve during any celebration.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Carrot cake, Gluten-free cake, Healthy cake, Keto cake
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 35 minutes
    Total Time: 55 minutes
    Servings: 8 slices
    Calories: 521kcal
    Author: Anna

    Equipment

    • Two 8-inch (20cm) cake pans or springforms of the same size

    Ingredients

    • 2 cup 200g almond flour
    • 2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
    • ½ teaspoon sea salt
    • 4 large eggs, room temperature
    • ⅔ cup 120g granulated sweetener I use Sukrin
    • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
    • 3 tablespoon heavy cream room temperature
    • ½ cup 110g unsalted butter melted
    • 2 cup 200g carrots shredded
    • ½ cup 60g walnuts chopped
    • Zest of 1 lemon

    FROSTING:

    • 11 oz 300g cream cheese, cold
    • ⅓ cup 80g heavy whipping cream, cold
    • 5 tablespoon powdered sweetener
    • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 350C (175C). Line the bottom and walls of two 8-inch (20cm) cake pans or spring forms with parchment paper.
    • In a large mixing bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking powder, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.
    • In another bowl, add sweetener and eggs and beat on high with a hand mixer for around 10 minute or until the mixture is pale yellow and tripled in size. Then, add the butter, heavy cream, and lemon juice. Beat on low for a few seconds or just until incorporated.
    • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Using a spatula, fold in until no dry ingredients left.
    • Add the carrots, walnuts, and lemon zest and fold in again.
    • Divide the batter between two cake pans, spread evenly, and bake for around 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
    • When done, remove from the oven and leave to cool down in the cake pans for 5 minutes. Then, remove from the pans and place onto a rack and allow to cool down completely. If you plan to assemble the cake the next day, wrap each cake layer (completely cooled) with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

    FROSTING

    • In a mixing bowl, beat all frosting ingredients using a hand mixer on a high speed until reaching stiff peaks, over 3-4 minutes.
    • Use frosting on a completely cooled cake. Refrigerate for up to 1 hour before serving.

    Notes

    NET CARB: 8g
    Store in a fridge for up to 3 days.
    Nutrition Facts
    Gluten-free keto carrot cake recipe
    Amount Per Serving (1 slice)
    Calories 521 Calories from Fat 441
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 49g75%
    Potassium 399mg11%
    Carbohydrates 12g4%
    Fiber 4g17%
    Sugar 5g6%
    Protein 12g24%
    Vitamin A 5272IU105%
    Vitamin C 3mg4%
    Calcium 210mg21%
    Iron 2mg11%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    This website, https://heretocook.com, offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. This information is a product of online calculators such as Cronometer.com and MyFitnesPal.com

    Tried this recipe?Mention @heretocook or tag #heretocook!

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    Comments

    1. Jane

      May 03, 2021 at 6:56 pm

      5 stars
      This is by far the best keto carrot cake I’ve tried. The cake layers turned out soft, moist and very easy to handle after out from the spring forms.

      Reply
      • Anna

        May 03, 2021 at 6:57 pm

        Thanks for the comment, Jane!

        Reply

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