This tender low carb coffee cake has a cinnamon filling and a sugar-free cream cheese glaze. An easy keto cake recipe that tastes like your favorite cinnamon roll! Now updated with a how-to video. And it’s even easier to make.
Please note that I have updated this keto cinnamon roll coffee cake ever so slightly to be even easier to make!
Sometimes I take a bit of one of my creations and I think to myself “I am really good at what I do”. That isn’t quite as self-aggrandizing as it may seem. Really, I am often just somewhat amazed at how I fell into this job, if you can even call it that. More to the point, I am often amazed at what I can create with ingredients I’d never even heard of only a few short years ago.
And I seem to have gained an innate sense of the characteristics of my ingredients that allows me to combine them in new and different ways, mostly to great success. Admittedly, occasionally I fail tremendously, but I still learn something from every failure that helps me in future recipes. I don’t feel limited by my dietary restrictions, and in fact I’d say the opposite is true.
They have opened up a whole new world of ingredients to me, and I daresay I am a better baker because of it. I am more creative, more sure of myself…and I clearly have a healthy appreciation for my own work.
How To Make Keto Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake
There is true joy in being good at what you do. I have been pretty good at a number of things in my life, some of which I even got paid to do. I was a pretty great academic advisor in my day and I enjoyed that most of the time. And at the time, I thought I’d work in higher education for the rest of my life.
Funny how life lays waste to the best laid, most carefully thought out plans. In this case, for the better, because as much as I enjoyed dispensing academic advice to unappreciative college kids, it simply doesn’t compare to the enjoyment I derive from this blog. I mean that with the utmost sincerity. I love the whole process, from the initial recipe concept to the actual execution in the kitchen. And then sharing it here with stories and pictures, and seeing what my readers think and if they have good results with it too.
With that sort of lead in, I am sure you must think I came up with the most astonishing, most amazing low carb, gluten-free recipe ever. The truth is that this actually yet another variation on my favourite low carb cake recipe. That cake turned out so well and has come to have a life of its own; it’s spawned so many other recipes and I just keep thinking of more and more things to do with it.
The idea for a coffee cake based on cinnamon rolls popped into my head one day and I knew instantly that my almond crusted butter cake was the perfect base recipe. It never fails me, that one. It’s the perfect low carb yellow cake recipe, with a light, tender crumb, that it makes a perfect building block for other recipes.
A little cinnamon “sugar” baked into the middle of the cake, then brushing the hot cake with melted butter and sprinkling more cinnamon “sugar”, then a cream cheese icing drizzle and you have yourself low carb Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake.
And I really did bite into this Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake and think “yeah, I am really good at this”. Call it egotistical if you will. I just call it delicious.
PLEASE NOTE! This delicious low carb cake recipe has been updated to be even EASIER to make. Same great flavor, I promise.
Love to bake? You need my new cookbook!
Keto Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cinnamon Filling:
- 3 tablespoon granulated sweetener (erythritol or allulose)
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- ½ cup erythritol sweetener
- ¼ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup butter melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup almond milk or water
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 ½ ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoon powdered sweetener (erythritol or allulose)
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Combine the Swerve and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease an 9x9 inch baking pan.
- Whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, protein powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract. Add the almond milk and continue to stir until well combined.
- Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan, then sprinkle with about two thirds of the cinnamon filling mixture. Spread the remaining batter over top and smooth with a knife or an offset spatula.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and just firm to the touch. Remove from the oven.
- Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon filling mixture. Let cool completely in the pan.
Frosting
- In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sweetener, cream, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- Pipe or drizzle over cooled cake.
Notes
Brenda says
Hi 🙂 do you think if I replaced the unflavored protein powder with oat fiber, it would work ok? I love oat fiber.
Carolyn says
No, not a good substitution. Protein powder helps baked goods rise and hold their shape, but oat fiber is dense and heavy and isn’t going to do the same.
Irene says
This was very good!!! I will be making it often , thanks!
Edith says
Made this today for hubby returning home from Africa. He loves cinnamon and anything sweet. Well, he’s in for a real treat! Thanks, Carolyn. Another great recipe.
Carolyn says
Hope you both love it!
Christiane says
I have tried so many low carb dessert recipes only to throw the finished product in the trash….they are always so dry and crumbly. This cake recipe is amazing. It doesn’t even need the icing. I had to use homemade low carb milk because I don’t have almond milk and I used a little monkfruit sweetener mixed with Swerve brown sugar substitute…again, it is what I had….so moist and no weird sugar sub after taste. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Carolyn says
I’m so glad you like it!
Alana F says
I couldn’t wait for this to cool to try it, and I was not disappointed! So tender – great crumb!! I didn’t even make the frosting. Delicious! I did have to bake it a lot longer to get the center cooked, but not a big deal. I probably cooked it 15 minutes longer.
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Amina says
Amazing recipe. Usually I don’t like swerve, but this recipe made it taste like real sugar. Personal preference of mine is to leave the cream cheese frosting unsweetened because I like the balance. I also subbed the whey protein she used with Isopure’s zero carb whey protein to lower the carb content. As well, I used a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead of heavy cream, and just warmed it with the cream cheese to get it to blend. It still made a great frosting. Love this website, she’s so creative with her recipes and on point with keto baking!
Rekaya says
Any clue how i’m Supposed to wait until it cools down ???????????????? can’t waaaiiiiiit
Carolyn says
Occupational hazard!
Vickie in Virginia says
Fantastic recipe – simple and delicious, using normal ingredients I already have in my house. And it tastes soooooo good. I needed 15 more minutes in my oven, I think my oven might be a tad off, but it came out perfect. So tender and moist. I’d been wanting coffee cake for a long time and this recipe is the winner!! Can’t wait to try your other recipes as well.
Carolyn says
So glad you liked it!
carol says
first keto dessert that actually tastes good 🙂
nicely sweet, i loved it. but the fam thought it was a bit dry (they’re used to box cakes lol). think i could add a little cream to make it a bit smoother, a bit more moist? took it on vaca with us so i’d have a little something sweet while the fam was raiding the hotel’s snack machines!
Carolyn says
Okay, if it was dry then you may have overbaked or something went a bit wrong. It’s typically overly moist! Just maybe try under-baking it a bit? Every oven is different so yours may be a bit hot. Hard to say.
Sandra Feller Moskowitz says
Made this for breakfast for the second time. We found it a bit sweet using the original recipe. Added zest of 1 lemon this time & skipped the icing. Lemon zest did the job and the Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake was DELICIOUS. Loved the addition of the lemon zest. Definitely a keeper. Thanks so much for your recipes.
Kristina says
I am in love with this recipe – I just made it Monday morning and I’ve been eating it for breakfast with my coffee each morning this week. It tastes so good straight out of the fridge with a bit of butter on it, and it’s SO filling – I have about 1/10 of the pan for breakfast and then don’t need to eat until dinner. When it’s cold it tastes just like “regular” coffee cake.
Just a note: I amended this with only 2c of almond flour and 1c of coconut flour (because that’s all I had left), and added a bit of extra milk to compensate for the coconut flour’s increased moisture. I also wasn’t able to drizzle my cream cheese icing, so I just kinda spread it across the top. 🙂 Still delicious – thank you!
Carolyn says
Okay so next time, you may want to only use 1/3 cup coconut flour to make up the difference in almond flour. That’s how I do it when I sub and I don’t need to add extra eggs or liquid.
Jocelyn says
This is going to be the perfect breakfast to go along with my morning coffee! I can’t wait to try it!
Jen says
This looks like the perfect companion to my morning coffee! Perfect way to start the day.
Anna says
I wish I had a slice of this cake right now! Delicious!
Steph says
Loves these! They’re a combo of my two favorite breakfast foods.
Rachael Yerkes says
Best Coffee Cake ever! Love it so much
Sarah says
This is in the oven now. The batter was so good I scraped the bowl clean! Can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
SHARON FITZPATRICK says
COULD YOU PLEASE ADD TO THE NUTRITION INFO THE SUGAR CONTENT. THANK YOU.
Carolyn says
No, actually, I don’t plan on doing that. Since I don’t use any added sugar at all, the total sugars in my recipes is very low. The carb count is really the most informative piece here. If you need to know the sugar content, you can simply run my ingredients through an online calculator like MyFitnessPal.
Sue says
I made this yesterday in muffin pan lined with paper liners. I used Swerve granulated and Lakanto powdered sweeteners and substituted the almond milk with whole milk just because I used what I had. It turned out great!
Sue says
BTW, I packed it all in 12 muffins but I think next time I will spread it out into 16. It’s a generous portion at 12.
Jennifer Bock says
I’ve been looking for good desserts to make on the low carb train, so am very excited to make this. That said, an 8 x 8 pan serves 16? That seems like a bit of a stretch.
Carolyn says
I believe in proper portion control. Almond flour cakes are heavy and filling so 1/16th of the recipe is the most appropriate amount, when it’s already 220 calories and 20g of fat. You are free to cut it however you see fit.