Keto Carrot Cake with Almond Flour
Sugar-free, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free
Looking for a delicious keto carrot cake recipe? Now you don’t have to feel guilty when you want to indulge in this sweet treat. Made with almond flour and sugar-free gives you a low carb, guilt and gluten-free pleasure that is indistinguishable from regular carrot cake.
8
Servings
429
Calories
40.2g
Fat
10.5g
Protein
5.6g
Net Carb
8.7g
Total Carbs
FEATURED COMMENT
“Made this last weekend (double batch) & it is spot-on!! Absolutely delicious!! People preferred it over Nothing Bundt Cakes’ carrot cake that someone else bought!! Clean carrot cake for the win!!️. It’s going in the holiday family cookbook, permanently! Thank you!!!“
➥ from YouTube subscriber @faithfueledhealth2917
Can a carrot cake be sugar free and keto?
Carrot cake is a favorite cake loved by many.
It is probably my most popular keto dessert recipe on my social media although a close rival is my keto chocolate cake and my New York style keto cheesecake.
Everyone who tries this sugar-free cake, loves it as well as their non-keto friends and family! I especially love it in the Spring and around Easter because that’s when we typically see traditional carrot cake in the bakery or on the dessert table. I was tired of missing out so I created this keto carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting because I needed to satisfy my occasional craving.
What sets this low carb cake recipe apart
- Uses REAL carrots – Using real carrots helps give this cake a spongy texture and helps keep the almond flour based cake from drying out. Using real grated carrots in this recipe not only produces authentic carrot cake flavor but it provides moisture to the cake too. The result is a cake that is moist and full of carrot and spice flavors because it is made using shredded carrot.
- No coconut flour – Coconut flour tends to be more dense since it absorbs moisture readily. The result will be a denser cake instead of one that is light and airy.
- No carrot flavoring extracts – Many keto carrot cake recipes use carrot cake flavoring extract instead of actual carrots. They do this because some keto police say that carrots aren’t keto. But that’s not true. As long as you aren’t consuming a ton a carrots, the occasional carrot isn’t going to budge your carb limit that much.
You will be sold once you make this low carb carrot cake and so will your guests. Just cover with frosting and if desired, top with chopped walnuts or nuts.
Keto Carrot Cake Recipe Video
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Sugar-Free Almond Flour Carrot Cake Ingredients
1 ½ cup almond flour - ½ cup granulated sugar free sweetener
- ¼ cup of brown sugar substitute
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup loosely packed grated carrots (from one medium sized carrot)
- 4 egg
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Sugar Free Frosting Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon sour cream or plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup confectioner’s sugar-free sweetener
Keto Carrot Cake with Almond Flour Directions
-
Preheat
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-
Prepare the cake pan
Grease the bottom and sides of one large circle cake pan or two 6 inch pans. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
-
Whisk
Whisk together all the dry ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar-free sweetener
- ¼ cup of brown sugar substitute
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
-
Mix up the ingredients
Add the carrot, eggs, butter, vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Ingredients
- 1 cup loosely packed grated carrot
- 4 eggs
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
-
Stir in the nuts
Stir in the pecans.
Ingredients
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Quick Tip
Can leave these out if you don't like nuts. -
Scoop & bake
Scoop batter into prepared baking pans (fill halfway). Bake at 350°F for 22-30 minutes. 22-25 minutes for 6 inch pans and 25-30 minutes for 8 inch. Bake until set in the middle.
Quick Tip
Do not overbake or the cake will be dry. -
Cool down
Let cool completely before frosting.
Quick Tip
Run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake once removed from oven. Flip onto a wire rack once cake is cool to the touch. -
Make your frosting
For the frosting, whip together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and sour cream. Slowly add in the powdered sweetener and continue to whip for another 2-3 minutes or until fluffy. Top with nuts if using, like chopped walnuts or more pecans.
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon sour cream or plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar-free sweetener
Smells delicious in my oven!
I made this today. It is soooo good!! This cake makes this stupid diet totally do-able! Thank you so much.
hahahahaha. : D
This cake is so easy to make and soooo tasty ! Thank you for this recipe.
Are calories and carbs etc per serving?
Yes, so if you split the cake into 8 slices, calories and carbs are per slice.
I made this cake today! It was amazing, I could not believe it was low carb and sugar free! I didn’t have any nutmeg or cloves and decided to mix coconut flour and almond flour… It was delicious! Thank you!
How is it sugar free if you use powdered sugar?
This recipe uses sugar-free sweeteners.
SWERVE, among others, makes a sugar-free powdered sugar.
Made this for my husbands birthday.. was the best keto cake we’ve made. I was not huge on the way the cream cheese icing came out, but my husband who has been doing keto for ages loovveesss it.
I added a tiny squeeze of fresh lemon juice, maybe a tsp and about a Tbsp of heavy cream to my icing bc I didn’t love my taste test.
Hi trying to stay away from sugar. Eliminating it from the recipe does what and should I substitute more almond flour for the missing sugar and monk fruit sweetener?
If you are eliminating the sugar substitute from the recipe, it won’t be sweet. You could try adding more almond flour if the batter is too thin.
Neither of those sweeteners contain sugar.
But, the do contain carbs.
I made this and it came out very nice! I used erythritol instead of Swerve (for the frosting I put it in the food processor).
Excited to try this recipe for Mother’s Day! Thoughts on adding in desiccated coconut??
I haven’t tried that but it sounds good.
I made this tonight and just finished my first piece! Wow! So yummy! Cake was yummy, frosting was yummy. Best keto cake I’ve had! ?
Made this yesterday. Added allspice and a little fresh ginger.
My husband made a comment -“are you sure we can eat this on keto.”
PERFECT!!
My husbands and my birthday are close together so I made this cake today as he has been craving his grandma’s carrot cake. It is soooo good we almost couldn’t stop with one serving! But, one serving is very filling with the frosting. Will definitely keep this recipe and make again. Thanks for sharing! Love your other recipes too. And you are spot on with the Choc Zero products!
I made the carrot cake. Almond flour is a little dry but seemed to moisten after in fridge overnight. It was delicious!
How many total carbs per slice is there?
8.7 grams total carbs per slice
This sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for including pan size recommendations and also for not having a book to scroll through to get to the actual recipe. You don’t know how much I appreciate both.
Could I replace the carrots with zucchini? Was looking for a good sugar free, low carb zucchini bar recipe.
Yes, you could do that! Sounds delicious!
Has anyone made this and frozen it?
I haven’t froze it yet, but it should work.
Oh!!! I wonder if I can take the cake batter and make carrot cake cupcakes? Any idea on what the oven settings should be?
Yes! You should be able to. Use the same temperature but check it sooner, maybe after 12-15 minutes?
Hi Sammy I made this recipe a few days ago and instead of doing it in a cake form I did Muffins. They turned out great, cut the cooking time down and check often insert a toothpick to check if done. My son said they were very nice and that I could make these again.. Cheers Narelle.
Made this recipe today into cupcakes same temp and baked them for 22mins they were perfect moist and taste awesome thank you for the recipe!!!!❤
This was SO good! I recommended it to a friend, but she is allergic to almonds. What can she sub for almond flour?
She can try using sunflower seed flour. It measures cup for cup with almond flour and it’s nut free
Made these last night as 12 cupcakes…Although I did forget to set my timer, so they baked a bit longer than intended…they were delicious!! My husband was quite impressed. I will definitely add this recipe to the low carb dessert rotation….thank you!
What the heck is Glen sweetener of choice? Get real.
I assume you mean, golden sweetener? It’s brown sugar substitute, so like Lakanto Golden Monkfruit or Brown Swerve or Truvia Sweet Complete Brown Sweetener
I can’t wait to try this. Thinking of cutting the recipe in half and making carrot cake muffins. Then I’ll put the frosting inside the muffin and on top. Yummm cannot wait
Omg! Delicious! Thank you for such a great recipe. This took me back to being a child eating my grandma’s amazing carrot cake!
Can I mix almond flour and lupin flour for this cake? If so, what proportions do you think? I’ve read that with lupin flour it is suggested to use half the amount of almond flour. What do you think?
I haven’t tried that but yes, your conversion would be correct. 1 cup of almond flour is about 1/2 cup of lupin flour.
2 questions:
-Is a 9 inch round suitable for ‘one large circle cake pan’? I only have 9 inch rounds.
-I don’t have any brown sugar substitute. Can I just use 1 cup monk fruit sweetener?
This cake is A-M-A-ZING!!!! By far THE best recipe for carrot cake, and the icing is so creamy and fluffy!!!! My husband said it was the best carrot cake he’s ever had in his life 😋
I have mini bundt cake pans and would like to make this recipe for a picnic/tea for my Mom.
Do you think if I sprayed the nonstick pans well with cooking spray they would come out clean?
I would assume I would check them about 20 minutes and then check every couple of minutes. Thanks for these recipes. I have used several and really like them all.
I would think so. It is worth a shot. You could always test it with one.
So I made these today to see how they would be for the picnic. I won’t rate it only because I did not make the recipe as written. I baked these for 15 minutes in the mini bundts. They are SOOOOOO good. Tender and moist. I have not made the frosting yet.I am not sure they are going to make it for frosting between my husband, daughter in law and myself. Lol. I am for sure making them for the picnic. I loosely measured the spices, we like a spiced cake, and added about 1/4 crushed pineapple because I had it in the fridge and thought it would add moisture. Fabulous. I thank you again for the recipes. As a diabetic, I am so glad to be able to bake for friends and have them love it. I do disclose it is sugar free incase someone does not like the sweeteners. So far, no one has turned anything down and ask for recipes.
I have made this twice in 1 week – it’s PHENOMENAL! It is so easy and so delicious. I made it for myself to have on Easter and then made it again the next weekend to have for my dad’s birthday. I made him a regular sugar apple pie (his favorite) but when I gave him a taste of this carrot cake, he had a piece of that too. 10/10. This cake is being added to my dessert recipe box.
This cake is absolutely delicious and perfectly moist! I was concerned about it only having almond flour as I usually prefer it to incorporate coconut flour for better candy consistency but this was just perfect! Next time I may sprinkle some unsweetened coconut flakes on top before cooking. Thank you this is a great go to!
I made it for 4th of July!! I added golden raisins to the cake, just cuz I really like them in a carrot cake… even if they do raise the carbs. It’s nice to have a treat that is special and a little dessert after a meal shouldn’t bump the glycemic index too much! TY for such a tasty treat!
I’ve got this cooling on the counter as we speak. It had my house smelling amazing! With Fall being just around the corner, I am anxious to try some cooler weather recipes. I am trying to get back to a strictly keto diet and recipes like this one make it a whole lot easier for me. So thank you!! 🥰
I’m going to make this but I don’t use Swerve. Can I use granulated stevia and if so would it be same measurement? Also for brown sugar sub can i use applesauce?
thanks
You can substitute the sweeteners. I think the applesauce would be fine for subbing with the brown sugar. For the stevia, it depend on your brand. Stevia is way sweeter than sugar so you don’t need that much of it. Since Swerve, measures cup for cup with sugar and for stevia the conversion is usually 2 – 5 tablespoons stevia to every cup of sugar, but again, it may depend on your brand.
Any suggestions on substitutions for the vanilla?
You can just omit it. It’s just there for a hint of flavor but the spices are the majority of the flavor in this keto cake recipe.
Which do you prefer in your carrot cake recipe? Brown sugar (ie Swerve) or Golden sugar (ie Lakanto monkfruit). Do you think there is a difference in taste? Your recipes are the first place I go every time I’m looking for something! Love them all!
I have only used the Golden Lakanto in this recipe but I have been preferring the brown swerve as a brown sugar replacement. I’m glad you like the recipes!
Thank you for sharing another great recipe. I baked the cake this afternoon, and it’s very good. I’ve tried several of your recipes, and they always turn out with great results.
my dad is a diabetic and i just made this cake for the 4th time LOL, they’re obsessed with it!
This is the diabetic friendly cake recipe I have been looking for. However, why does it not say to add 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum (which I did based on other experiences)?
I doubled the vanilla (because vanilla) and since I didn’t have swerve brown I used an extra 1/4 cup of swerve granulated.
Also, because I used pre shredded carrots, which have less moisture, I added 3tbsp of agave nectar. Yes it’s still glycemic but LESS so, and it added moisture.
Finally, not a fan of the icing. A siur cream type icing has a much better consistency. I use plain nonfat greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
I am going to use this cake recipe as a basis for other cakes. Like blueberry or coffee.
This cake had good flavor but I was pretty disappointed in how short it turned out. The recipe said to put the batter in two 6-inch pans or one large circle pan. Who owns 6-inch pans? That is not a standard round cake pan size. I decided to go with the one large circle pan (standard 8″) and the cake still came out very short. This recipe would have been better-written by doubling the ingredient amounts so it would have turned out a standard 8″ two-layer cake. If I had known how little batter there would be I would have doubled it from the get-go. Made for a very disappointing-looking birthday cake.
Thank you Annie for this recipe I made this the other day and turned it into Muffin’s. They are very good, I am diabetic low carb so good for that reason as well. My son said they were very nice and that I should make them again. I was going to add some coconut but in the end I forgot. Pineapple would give it a bit more moisture and I think not much sugar content per slice or muffin. Cheers have a great day..
I made this today for my birthday and it made 12 cupcakes. It was so moist and delicious as well as easy to make. It was a hit so much so that my carb eaters enjoyed them as well! That’s miraculous in itself! I will make this again!
Omg !! So I am a non baker person and somehow I am capable of even ruining a box cake recipe too lol… I was totallg determined to make this and to my surprise oh my 1st baking that came out so so good. Can’t even believe it turned out so good. Only thing is when I flipped it to cool down on the rack it broke into halves. Anything that I could change ? I baked it for 30 min. I did not had parchment paper so I just sprayed the glass container really well.
I’m glad the cake turned out delicious! When I made my sauerkraut chocolate cake, it broke in half too. It was so moist and I didn’t let it cool long enough in the pan. I suspect that is what happened to you too. Next time just loosen the edges of the cake from the pan and let it sit for longer. Then place a wire rack on top of the cake pan. Slide one hand underneath the cake pan and the other holding the top of the wire rack and flip.
Hi.
Can I use fewer eggs, like half? That’s too many. I have to watch my spending.
Thanks
I haven’t tried using less, so I’m not sure how it well it would work. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
I made these as cupcakes (12 cupcakes baked for 25 minutes). I have been searching for a good keto cake recipe that didn’t have the gritty texture you get with almond flour, this is it. This is also the first time I have attempted carrot cake which is one of my favorites. I have to say it was delicious. I am going to try it with zucchini next time. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I made this in my air fryer the other day at 150, low and slow and it turned out absolutely perfect. We had it for dessert Sunday and nobody realized it was gluten free, sugar free and healthy too. Everyone loved it and seeing as I’ve tried several keto carrot cake options that sometimes are a little on the heavy side I;m delighted to say this was light and delicious and it’s a keeper. I’ve been ordered to make it for Christmas and my granddaughter wants it for her birthday cake also. Thank you for a delicious recipe.
Hi! Im from the Philippines and I couldn’t find any monkfruit sweetener for the brown sugar replacement. Can I use coconut sap sugar? I will be making this cake for my sister in law and she is diabetic.
As long as she is okay with having coconut sap sugar, then you could use it. It should measure the same. You could always just use all sugar-free sweetener instead of using both.
I just made this today and it tasted really good. I changed the frosting to include maple syrup and greek yogurt. Thanks for the recipe;)
I made this for my family dinner over Easter break. We have family members with diabetes and some who love carb-munching… everyone enjoyed this treat.
I made this cake for my mother’s 87th birthday and it was a hit. So tasty and so easy to make. I still have frosting left as I only did one layer. It’s awesome too, and I have plans for it. Thanks so much.
Luckily I pulled out the measuring tape and realized how small a six-inch pan is. I doubled the recipe but even that made very little batter for two 8-inch round pans. They are in the oven now. Hopefully, they grow. I plan on stacking them. Next time I will triple the recipe. Fingers crossed they are as tasty as everyone says.
Heavenly carrot cake—oh my, it’s delightful. I’ve made it as muffins and also as a double layer in 2 x 6″ pans. It’s a perfect celebration cake. For cat owners, please be careful with ground cloves because they contain eugenol, which is toxic to felines, even in small amounts.