Keto Pumpkin Earthquake Cake is a deliciously twisted low carb dessert! Pumpkin spice cake swirled with cream cheese, pecans, and chocolate chips, it’s the perfect treat for fall celebrations.
If you aren’t familiar with keto earthquake cake, you are in for a real treat. It’s a wonderfully mixed up concoction with cake batter, cream cheese filling, nuts and chocolate chips all swirled together in one pan. Add in a little pumpkin puree and some pumpkin spice, and you have yourself the perfect fall dessert!
I originally made this fun and easy cake recipe in 2021 but it lived on another website. I remember loving it so much, so I decided I needed to make it again and share it here with you. I am happy to report that it’s just as good as I remember!
★★★★★
S says: “Carolyn, how are you so good at this?! This cake is delicious! Wow. And I mean it’s a great pumpkin cake, not just a great low carb cake. I’m looking forward to trying your other versions. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes, they bring me so much joy and make managing diabetes less sad.“
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Almond flour: This cake works best with almond flour. If you wish to make it with coconut flour, you can follow my recipe for keto pumpkin bread. It may take longer to bake so please keep your eye on it in the oven.
- Sweetener: I recommend a good brown sugar replacement for the cake and a powdered sweetener for the filling.
- Pumpkin puree: A thicker canned pumpkin puree works best.
- Pumpkin pie spice: This is usually a combination of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg and/or cloves. If you can’t find a pre-made version, you can make it yourself.
- Cream cheese: Make sure it is well softened before mixing with the butter and sweetener.
- Butter: Both the cake batter and the cream cheese filling require melted butter. Make sure to note that it is “divided use” in the recipe.
- Pecans: Feel free to use walnuts or another nut instead.
- Chocolate chips: I love using Lily’s chocolate chips but any brand you like best will work.
- Baking staples: Eggs, baking powder, vanilla, and salt.
How to Make Keto Pumpkin Earthquake Cake
- Prepare the cake batter: Whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, butter, pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- Prepare the cream cheese filling: In another bowl, beat the cream cheese with the remaining melted butter and powdered sweetener until smooth.
- Swirl them together: Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan and dollop the cream cheese mixture overtop. Sprinkle with the pecans and swirl everything together with a knife.
- Bake: Sprinkle the cake with the chocolate chips and bake at 325ºF, until mostly set but the center is still soft and jiggles slightly when the pan is shaken. It will continue to cook after it comes out of the oven.
Carolyn’s Tips for Success
I recommend using a glass or ceramic baking dish for this cake. You will be cutting the pieces right out of the pan and you don’t want to scratch up your non-stick bakeware. If you use a metal pan, the cake may bake through more quickly so please keep your eye on it.
Depending on how thick your pumpkin puree is, you may need to add water to the cake batter. Keto batters are thicker than their conventional counterparts, but you should be able to spread it easily in the pan and swirl in the cream cheese.
The cake won’t be totally firm when you remove it from the oven and you don’t want it to be – otherwise, it become over-baked and dry. The center should have a bit of jiggle still when the pan is shaken. It will continue to set up as it sits and cools in the pan.
Sweetener Options
While you can technically use any sweetener you like for this recipe, I want you to be aware of how it may affect your results. I tend to use erythritol-based sweeteners for keto cake recipes like this, because allulose often causes the cake to over-brown on the exterior. They can even taste a little burnt. You can use allulose, or a mix of allulose and erythritol, but keep a close eye on the cake while it is in the oven.
For the filling, any powdered sweetener will work well.
More Delicious Keto Pumpkin Recipes
Keto Pumpkin Earthquake Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups (261.33 g) almond flour
- 2/3 cup (133.33 g) brown sugar replacement
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup (163.33 g) pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup (170.25 g) butter, melted, divided
- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (95 g) powdered sweetener
- 1/2 cup (54.5 g) chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup (90 g) sugar-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and grease a 9×13 inch glass or ceramic baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, granular sweetener, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Stir in the eggs, pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup of the melted butter, and the vanilla until well combined.
- If the batter is very thick, add water a tablespoon at a time until spreadable but not pourable. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- In another bowl, beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1/4 cup of melted butter until smooth. Beat in the powdered sweetener.
- Dollop this mixture over the cake batter by the spoonful and sprinkle with the pecans. Use a knife to swirl everything together. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until the cake is mostly set, but the center is still slightly soft and jiggly when the pan is shaken. Remove and let cool completely in the pan before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Absolutely delicous! I love this cold with coffee on the side, and it looks so festive! It’s a perfect fall treat.
OmG.. this came out so delicious..
Thx a lot..
God BLess❤️
Delicious. It may not last a week in the fridge, and there are only two of us here.
I substituted sunflower seed flour for the almond flour and it came out great. (Almonds are high in oxalates for kidney stone formers.) I also used a bit more pecans and 3 oz of 88% dark chocolate bar, chopped, instead of the sugar-free chocolate chips.
How could you change this to make cupcake/muffin style instead?
I really don’t know how you’d get it all nicely mixed up in a small cupcake, but you are welcome to experiment.
Made it for the first time today. So good!!! Even my 7 year old granddaughter who is a pretty particular eater really liked it and wanted me to tell you, lol.
Great to hear!
Very yummy either warm or cold (I tried both! lol). My husband is not a huge pumpkin fan but he enjoyed it saying the cake part almost reminds him of zucchini or spice cake. We loved that is isn’t overly sweet. Would pair nice with coffee. Thank you for sharing!
That’s great to hear!
after reading other comments where whey protein was mentioned, I realized that ingredient isn’t listed in the ingredients in this post. Now I don’t know whether to try making it, and it sounds so good!
Skip it! This is an updated recipe!
I made this today and it came out perfect!!
This is so delicious! It’s definitely on my “to make again” list.
Thank you!
Looking forward to trying this recipe. What size pan are we supposed to use? I apologize in advance if I missed the size.
Step 1 of the directions
I cannot wait to make this one! I just made a batch of your pumpkin cream cheese muffins yesterday so this will have to wait!
Enjoy!
i dont have whey protein powder. can i use a plant based protein powder or just leave it out ?
Plant based should be fine.
I’m not seeing protein powder of any kind in this recipe. Is it for the original earthquake cake?
For this cake, it’s meant to be all mixed up so I decided the protein powder was unnecessary. It does help most cakes rise better.
I don’t do Whey protein powder. could I use Beef Isolate Protein powder instead?
Sounds like you need to experiment.
Carolyn, how are you so good at this?! This cake is delicious! Wow. And I mean it’s a great pumpkin cake, not just a great low carb cake. I’m looking forward to trying your other versions. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes, they bring me so much joy and make managing diabetes less sad.
Thank you!
Caroline, this recipe popped up on Facebook today. It made my eyes gleam. I clicked on the link and got a good amount of tips on how to make it, but the recipe is not there. I even clicked on the Pete and Gerry’s link and found no recipe there. Is there some where else I need to go to get this recipe. Thank for all you do.
I have found the same problem, Sharon, but assumed it was “operator error.” Looking forward to being able to print this recipe and make it! 🙂
I had no trouble accessing it on Pete and Gerry’s… try using the search function on their website.
I followed the link just now and just printed it out ? No problem at all ?