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Carrot cake is one of my favorites, but let’s face it, it is not usually low-carb or keto-friendly. In fact, one of my favorite recipes has 74g of net carbs per slice. This Keto Low Carb Carrot Cake recipe is one that you’ll enjoy regardless of your lifestyle. It’s moist, double-layered, and covered in my easy keto cream cheese frosting.
How to Make a Low Carb Carrot Cake: Top Tips
The best way to learn how to make this recipe is to watch the post video. You can find it by scrolling down to the recipe card and hitting the play button. Besides the step-by-step tutorial, here are a few tips:
- Allow the cake to cool before frosting: this prevents the icing from melting. My cake is generally cool enough to frost in about 30 minutes
- Use frosting to fill in imperfections: I’ve made this cake more than 10 times and sometimes putting the top layer down is a challenge. If that happens to you, use the icing as a “glue” to fill in any imperfections
- Make sure your dry baking ingredients are fresh: baking is a science and every ingredient has a purpose. Be sure to check to make sure that your baking powder, almond and coconut flours are not not expired.
Pineapple, Raisins, Carrots & Keto
You’ll notice that this recipe includes pineapples, raisins, and carrots. Some might argue that these are foods to avoid on keto. Since keto is a metabolic state and not a specific food, I eat these in moderation.
This carrot cake has about 7g net carbs per slice, which fits my goal of eating the food I love while cutting carbs and sugar. I recommend choosing options that are unprocessed and those that do not include added sugar.
Low Carb Carrot Cake Recipe Substitutions
I have gotten a lot of questions about substitutions for this recipe. I’m going to include the most popular substitutions that I’ve tested in my kitchen.
- Use collagen peptides if you don’t have Xanthan gum: Xanthan gum works to hold the cake together. If you’re in a pinch, you can substitute it with unflavored collagen peptides. Two scoops (about 2 tablespoons) of Collagen Peptides is enough to replace the Xanthan gum
- Use unsweetened applesauce to cut the fat: high-quality fat is no problem when following the keto way of eating. However, if you want to have a cake with less fat, you can substitute half of the butter and MCT oil with unsweetened applesauce.
- Use coconut oil for MCT oil: I find that cooking with MCT oil increases my ketone levels (I measure them with Keto Mojo). But, you can use coconut oil instead.
How Much Cake Does this Make
I make this cake at least two times each year for Thanksgiving dinner and to celebrate my husband’s birthday. So, this recipe makes a 9-inch double-layer cake with enough frosting for layers and decorations.
You can adjust the servings in the recipe card to make more or less. Double-layer 9-inch cakes have the ability to serve between 16-30 slices. You can google all the ways to cut a 9-inch cake if you’re interested in seeing how to do it. I prefer 20 slices from this cake by cutting it into quarters, then cutting 5 slices into each section.
My attempt at decorating this cake for my husband’s birthday
Storage & Freezing
This cake should be stored in the refrigerator. You can also cut it into servings and store them in the freezer. When I freeze it, I sit the frozen cake on the counter until it is thawed. You can also just heat it in the microwave, just know that the icing will melt.
Do you have to make Keto Carrot Cake in the oven?
No! In fact, one recipe that I’ve been meaning to try out is this Instant Pot Carrot Cake. This cake a bit smaller than the one I’m sharing. But, it would be a perfect option, if you are not making a cake (as I was) to celebrate a birthday.
More low carb dessert recipes:
- Maple Pecan Keto Cinnamon Rolls
- Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bites
- Easy Keto Cheesecake Brownies
- Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
- Keto Pumpin Pie Cheesecake Bars
The Best Keto Low Carb Carrot Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Almond Flour
- 1/4 cup Coconut Flour
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Xanthan Gum, or 2 scoops Unflavored Collagen Peptides when you're in a pinch
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Unflavored MCT Oil
- 4 large Eggs
- 1 1/4 cup Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol
Filling Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
- 1/4 cup raisins, no sugar added
- 1 cup Chopped Pecans
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup crushed pineapples (in juice), no sugar added
Frosting Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter, melted
- 1.5 cups Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 16 oz Cream Cheese, softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and watch the tutorial video by clicking play in the video section below.
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk wet ingredients together in a large bowl (enough for the whole batter). Set aside.
- Mix the filling ingredients. Set aside.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold in with a spatula.
- Fold in the filling ingredients.
- Divide the batter into 9in cake pans. Slam the cake pans to level the batter.
- Bake in a preheated oven until a toothpick or fork comes out clean (30-40 minutes). Allow to cool for 30 minutes (at least) before frosting.
- Mix all of the frosting ingredients in a stand-mixer (~3 minutes)
- Frost and design the cakes as you please.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
Gemma says
Would I be able to use coconut oil instead of MTC?
Davinah says
Hi Gemma,
Absolutely! Just melt it first.
Thanks,
Davinah
Stacy says
Can the uneaten portion of this cake be frozen?
Davinah says
Absolutely! You can freeze the slices and simply take them out as you’d like to eat them.
Barbara says
Sugar means sugar alcohols right? From swerve?
Also how many servings?
Davinah says
Hi Barbara,
This recipe does not include added sugar so the sugar that you see in the nutrition facts is an estimate of the natural sugar that is included in things like carrots, raisins, and the pineapple.
This recipe has 16 servings since it’s a double layer 9-inch cake.
Thanks for asking,
Davinah