I won’t lie, I have a mild obsession with gingerbread. Particularly as the weather cools down and the leaves start to fall. There’s something old-fashioned and homey about those warm spices baked into a cake or a cookie. You almost feel like you will step out your front door into a snowy European street from times past.
And this beautiful Gingerbread Cake is the latest culmination of my obsession. I have so many gingerbread recipes, such as my popular Keto Gingerbread Men, or the gorgeous and elegant Keto Gingerbread Cake Roll. And my Gingerbread Loaf is very popular around this time of year.
Gingerbread flavors lend themselves well to so many baked goods – cakes, cookies, puddings, soufflé, scones, biscotti. This time, I took the ever popular Cream Cheese Pound Cake, and turned it into gingerbread. How can you go wrong with an extra moist, dense, rich gingerbread pound cake?
What is in traditional gingerbread cake?
It goes without saying that gingerbread contains plenty of ginger, but that’s not the only spice that adds to the classic flavor. It also contains a fair amount cinnamon, as well as cloves, nutmeg, and/or allspice.
Conventional gingerbread typically also contains lots of sugar and molasses. It’s this last addition that gives gingerbread it’s rich, dark color and flavor. Alas, molasses is hardly keto friendly and while I have used a teaspoon here and there on occasion, it’s not enough to add the kind of deep brown color for a full cake.
So how do you make Keto Gingerbread Cake?
Excellent question, my keto friend. I do have plenty of tricks up my sleeve when it comes to keto baking, to improve texture, flavor, and appearance, without increasing the carb load.
This is an almond flour cake and of course I used my trusty Bob’s Red Mill finely blanched almond flour. It never fails to produce fine-crumbed cakes that rival their high carb counterparts. But please check the recipe notes if you need to be nut-free.
Now, to get that darker color, I always add a tablespoon of cocoa powder. That’s not normal in gingerbread cake but it works and it isn’t enough to make the flavor taste at all like chocolate. With sufficient ginger and cinnamon in the mix, you don’t get any hint of the cocoa.
Speaking of the spices, you can go as heavy or as light as you like here. Inevitably whenever I make keto gingerbread recipes, someone says it’s to much spice, and someone says it’s not enough. I write my recipes for the middle of the road folks, but like many of you, I prefer lots of gingery goodness!
And now that Swerve Brown is available, I prefer that for any gingerbread recipe. It has a richer, more molasses-like flavor.
You know what takes this keto cream cheese pound cake over the top? A sprinkle of powdered sweetener and a drizzle of my sugar-free caramel sauce. It’s heavenly! But a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream would be good too.
Can you freeze keto gingerbread cake?
Heck yeah! In fact, this would be a perfect keto cake to make ahead of the holidays and freeze until you’re ready to serve.
As with all keto baked goods, let it cool completely first. Then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place either in a sealable freezer bag (heavy duty is best) or a large tupperware. And just freeze the naked cake, with no garnish or glaze. You can make that later.
Let it thaw at room temperature in its wrappings and then it should be perfect for serving when you’re ready. Add any powdered sweetener or caramel sauce as you serve.
Many thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for partnering with me to bring you this recipe.
Keto Gingerbread Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (136.5 g) Swerve Brown
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (336 g) almond flour, (see notes for nut-free)
- 1 1/2 tbsp (7.61 g) ground ginger
- 1 tbsp (12.17 g) baking powder
- 1 tbsp (5.07 g) cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- Powdered sweetener
- Sugar-free caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and grease a 10 to 12 cup capacity bundt pan very well.
- In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until well combined. Beat in the brown "sugar" sweetener until lightened and fluffier, about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and beaters as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the almond flour, spices, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt all at once and beat in until well combined. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes, until the top is set and firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before flipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sweetener and/or drizzle with homemade sugar-free caramel sauce.
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.
Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Thanks for what looks like it will be a winter favorite! Have you tried it yet served hot, buttered? My mom served hers that way – it never was around long enough to make a sauce for it!
That sounds fabulous!
Would this work well in a spring form pan? I have no bundt pan
Sure!
I made this tonight for my Christmas baking and it was so lovely. Thank you!
If I wanted to add a bit of molasses just for the holidays, how much would I add? My friends LOVE the traditional flavors with molasses added.
I wouldn’t add more than 1 tbsp. It will add 15g of carbs to the full recipe, so only about 1g carbs per serving.
Hi Carolyn. Another tempting recipe. I don’t have a bundt pan and I’m actually trying to declutter/downsize so acquiring one is not in the plans. What other baking dish would work? I have 9×9 square glass (too small I imagine) and metal loaf pans. Would any of these work and what adjustments should I consider? Much appreciated.
You can try the glass pan… just keep your eye on it because you are changing a lot of variables in terms of size and depth, and also glass vs metal bakeware.
I’m allergic to dairy and its hard to find a recipe without it. I find that the vegan cream cheese is not the same. do you have any ideas for a dairy free version?
Not for this recipe, if you don’t want to use DF cream cheese.
I made this last night. The taste is great but it cooked very quickly. I have a convection oven and it was done (and a little dark brown) after 30 minutes.
Thanks for your recipes! Making your chocolate chip cookies now!
You ALWAYS need to adjust convection down by at least 25 degrees. Make sure you do this for any recipes that are made in a conventional oven. If I used convection I would specify (I almost always use conventional simply to make the recipe more accessible to more people).
oh! ok.. thanks for the tip!!
My daughter LOVED your gingerbread loaf or pound cake recipe last winter. I cannot find the recipe. Is it still on the site?
This is a better, updated one. If she loved the other, she will love this one!
Hi Carolyn! I’m trying to come up with a nice dessert, and I recently saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen where they made a 4-layer gingerbread cake. Since I can’t use that recipe (as wonderful as it looks), would this one be enough for four layers! Thanks!
I honestly don’t know… depends on the size of the pans and the thickness of the layers. If it’s 8 or 9 inches… probably not. You’d need to increase it
made this recipe everyone loved it
TY I have made this twice and, its delicious, the 2nd time was better than the first but, both times had me wanting more
Delicious. I made this beauty for my Christmas party and no one even noticed it’s made with almond flour. Everyone asked for seconds. So easy to make. I didn’t use brown sweetener but it tasted very good. Thanks for your always wonderful and trusty recipes Carolyn. Happy Holidays ????
OMgosh!! This is sooooo freaking yummy!! It was wonderful with a cup of coffee! The next time I make it (which will be in the next two days), I’m going to slightly increase the ginger, cloves and cinnamon! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
I made this yesterday and it is delicious! Next time I will add more ginger, nutmeg and cloves – however, it was still a delicious cake! So easy to make. I wish I could share the photo I made it in my Christmas Tree Bundt pan. So pretty sprinkled with powdered snow! 🙂
We tried the Keto Gingerbread Pound Cake with the following flavour adjustments:
lemon extract instead of vanilla
2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
It is a flavour profile from our family tradition. It turned out wonderfully.
Lemon curd is an excellent topping for a warm, yummy gingerbread. If you haven’t tried it I challenge you to try it sometime. The combination of the two makes a great flavor profile.