This keto rum cake is rich and tender, with the sweet intensity of dark rum and spices. Delicious on its own or with a dollop of sugar-free whipped cream, it’s the perfect holiday dessert.
It wouldn’t be the holidays without some sort of rum-soaked treat, right? Somehow, rum has become closely associated with holiday sweet treats.
Keto rum balls come to mind. As does adding a shot of dark rum to your keto eggnog. And it’s pretty standard in sugar-free mincemeat too.
Now I am adding keto rum cake to the rum-laden collection. This sweetly spiced keto cake is heavenly. It’s easy to make, so rich and moist, and it’s the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table.
Is rum keto?
There is a lot of confusion surrounding hard alcohol and whether it’s keto friendly. So let’s clear it up once and for all, shall we?
Pure spirits have no sugars and zero grams of carbohydrate. That’s right, none. Zip, zilch, nada. That includes rum, tequila, vodka, gin, brandy, and cognac, and all forms of whiskey.
I think that much of the confusion stems from the fact that many spirits are distilled from sugar, grains, and other starches like potatoes. But all of that sugar is consumed by yeast during the fermentation process so none remains after distillation.
So technically, all of these pure spirits are keto-friendly, right?
But not all rums are truly pure spirits. Some lower quality rum brands add sugar back into the final product, to bring out the sweetness. And flavoured or spiced rums almost always contain a little added sugar.
It’s probably not enough to raise the carb count of a recipe like keto rum cake. But just be aware that not all rum is completely sugar-free. For this cake, I used plain dark rum and simply added some spices.
Ingredients
- Almond flour
- Coconut flour
- Whey protein powder (you can sub egg white protein powder)
- Baking powder
- Spices
- Salt
- Butter
- Sweetener (brown sugar substitute preferred)
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Dark rum
- Toasted pecans
How to make keto rum cake
This is a classic loaf cake recipe and it’s quite easy to make. Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- Line the pan with parchment. You still want to grease the pan but lining it with parchment that has overhanging edges makes it much easier to remove. I cut my parchment so that it goes across the bottom and up the long sides of the pan, leaving the shorter sides uncovered.
- Use a metal pan. Metal and glass conduct heat VERY differently and cakes baked in glass take much longer to bake through properly.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. Be sure to break up any clumps in the almond flour and coconut flour so that it mixes in well when added to the cake.
- Beat the butter with the sweetener. Really take the time to cream the butter and sweetener together properly, which takes about 2 minutes.
- Use room temperature eggs. I say this all the time because it’s important! Cold eggs make the nicely creamed butter clump up again and you get little holes in the cake where clumps of butter have melted away.
- Bake until golden and just firm. Baking times are only guidelines so make sure you check on your baked goods a few minutes before the low end of the range, and keep checking frequently after that.
- Make the glaze. I recommend using both Swerve and BochaSweet in the glaze, to keep it from re-crystallizing. But if all you have is powdered Swerve or another erythritol sweetener, it will still be great.
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t recommend skipping it, as it really helps the cake rise properly. You can use whey, egg white, hemp, or other plant-based protein powders. Please watch my YouTube video, which shows you just how much protein helps the consistency of keto baked goods.
Regular granular sweetener is fine for the cake. If you want that darker, brown sugar flavor, try adding 2 teaspoons of molasses. For the glaze, you will need powdered sweeteners.
Try adding an additional 3/4 cup almond flour.
These two sweeteners simply help the glaze stay softer and not re-crystallize as much. If you can’t access them, simply use more powdered Swerve. It will still be delicious!
Sure! Try using coconut oil or ghee in place of the butter in both the cake and the glaze. You can also use ghee.
Yes, you can use water and a bit of rum extract or even just plain water.
- Looking for a good metal loaf pan? I highly recommend USA pans. Super non-stick and non-toxic, and incredibly durable!
- I always look for grassfed whey protein powder for my recipes.
- I purchase pre-toasted, chopped pecans at Trader Joe’s to save time and effort!
Keto Rum Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Rum Cake
- 2 1/4 cups (240 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (27 g) unflavoured whey protein powder, (or egg white protein powder)
- 2 1/2 tsp (2.5 tbsp) baking powder
- 1 tsp (0.75 tsp) cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (136.5 g) Swerve Brown
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp (1.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (120 g) dark rum
Rum Glaze
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (45.5 g) powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup (32 g) powdered BochaSweet, or allulose
- 2 to 3 tbsp (2 tbsp) dark rum
- 1/4 cup (24.75 g) chopped toasted pecans
Instructions
Rum Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9×5 inch metal loaf pan well. Line with parchment paper, so that the parchment overhangs the pan (for easy removal).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with the brown sweetener until creamy and well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the almond flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the rum and beating until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed.
- Spread in the prepared baking pan and bake 45 to 55 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the top is just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely in the pan, then loosen with a knife and lift out by the parchment.
Rum Glaze
- Place the butter in a medium bowl and whisk in the sweeteners until combined. Drizzle in the rum, whisking until smooth, until a thick but pourable consistency is achieved.
- Drizzle over the cooled cake and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
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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My husband and I really like this cake, so I made it for his birthday today. But he wanted it with dates added this time (he’s not keto or low carb but should be) and since his mother’s date cake was extremely high in sugar I agreed. It’s a small trade-off in my mind; much healthier than those 1960’s sugar bombs we were addicted to. The first time I made it was for a Christmas vacation with another couple and we all thought it was amazing. It’s a good memory so thank you very much for this!
Love that!
How do you store leftovers? I see from other comments that it can be frozen, but what about after it’s cooled? Thank you
Found a typo while making this recipe, “2 1/2 tsp (2.5 tbsp) baking powder” should be 2.5 tsp I hope! that’s what I used. it’s in the oven now, smells amazing, and the batter tasted good, which is always a good sign.
Thank you for an amazing recipe!!!
I baked it in a silicone cupcake sheet (in a form of snowflakes).
Baked for 25 minutes.
It is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!
Living on keto doesn’t mean giving up on yummy things!!
I followed the recipe exactly, but it came out super dry and so overwhelmingly sweet we couldn’t eat it. The taste of rum was also overpowering (and I love rum!)
If it was super dry, it likely got over-baked. Did you use a glass or a metal pan?
Hi. Can Vanilla whey protein be used instead of unflavored? I have Vanilla one so was wondering if I can use it and avoid buying unflavored one. Thanks 😊
Yup, that’s fine. Just don’t add any additional vanilla.
Making this soon!
Hi Carolyn – I’m making the rum cake now and my kitchen smells AMAZING!!! Does this store well on the countertop or should it be placed in the fridge? Tks. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Fingers crossed! It’d been a long time since I’ve baked.
This is the yummiest cake I’ve had in many a year. I have made it twice for Christmas and plan on it for Christmas this year. I would like to make it oftener, but this is a trigger for me, in that I can’t stay out of it!! My heritage is Austria-Hungary, and there are so many delectable cookies that my Grandma taught me to bake that I can no longer eat. This is the closest I can come to her rum cake and stay keto.
My heritage is Slovak and very close foods! Mom always made whiskey cookies. I am going to try this cake leaving out the cinnamon and nutmeg and replacing rum with whiskey…..and a coating of sweetened frothed eggwhites and ground walnuts.
Can the protein powder be left out? I don’t have any and I don’t use it. If it would change the consistency of the batter, what might you recommend to compensate for it? Thanks, I look forward to trying this!
Please read the Frequently Asked Questions section.
Hi. What’s the difference between the two sweeteners? They both are confectioners/powder sugars aren’t they? Can I just use one?
No, they are not both powdered sweeteners. Please read the blog post as I discuss the reasons why it’s best to use both.
Hi Carolyn, a lot of people like me are allergic to phytic acid which is in almond and pistachio. Can you please say ratio for coconut flour if I want to use just coconut instead of almond?
I understand that some people are allergic to almond flour. But almond flour and coconut flour work VERY differently. So if a recipe is tested with almond, I cannot say how to use coconut flour without testing it. It changes the recipe entirely and I would have to start from scratch. Any keto blogger who tries to offer you a “ratio” for this substitution is missing the nuances of texture and consistency, and you’re likely to end up with a big mess on your hands.
However, you can use something like sunflower seed flour in a 1:1 ratio with almond flour. Please read my post on how to make it and how to use it: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/how-to-make-your-own-sunflower-seed-flour/