Strawberry rhubarb embodies everything I love about spring and early summer, with all the fresh produce coming into season. And this easy keto dump cake recipe showcases those fresh flavors to perfection. Served slightly warm, with a scoop of keto ice cream, it just makes my heart burst with happiness.
If rhubarb makes your heart sing too, then you will love my recipes for Keto Rhubarb Crisp and sugar-free strawberry rhubarb sauce!
I had honestly never heard of dump cakes until a few years ago. I don’t know if it’s my Canadian upbringing or what, but they were entirely foreign to me. But I can understand the appeal! You simply dump all of your ingredients into the pan and bake it. And they come out more like a delicious fruit cobbler, rather than a sponge cake.
Sounds great, right? Except for the fact that most dump cakes are made with canned pie filling and boxed cake mix. Gasp, splutter, gasp! Oh, the sugar, oh the carbs!
But it really doesn’t take much to make it from scratch with healthier, low carb ingredients. And the popularity of this luscious cake proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Why we love this recipe
- Easy to make: Just mix, dump, and bake – it’s that simple!
- Sweet and tart balance: Strawberries and rhubarb are magical together. The tartness of the rhubarb offsets the sweetness of the berries perfectly.
- Buttery crisp topping: The “cake” topping becomes slightly crisp on top, which complements the luscious fruit filling.
- Versatile serving options: It’s delicious on its own or topped with keto ice cream or whipped cream.
- Low carb and gluten-free: Made with almond flour and keto sweetener, this is a wonderful summer dessert that won’t spike your blood sugar.
Reader’s Thoughts
“After going to at least 3 grocery stores and the farmer’s market, I finally found rhubarb! So glad I didn’t give up because this was absolutely delicious! The perfect balance of sweet and tart, you’ve done it again, Carolyn! Thank you!” — Katy
Ingredient Notes
- Strawberries: Use fresh berries for the best results, as frozen can make the filling rather soupy.
- Rhubarb: I also recommend fresh rhubarb. I’ve made it with frozen (thawed) rhubarb and it definitely was soupier than with fresh.
- Almond flour: You really do need to use a good finely ground almond flour for this recipe.
- Coconut flour: A little coconut flour in the crust mixture helps offset the moisture in the almond flour.
- Sweetener: You need a powdered sweetener for the filling, and an erythritol-based granular sweetener for the topping. Please see Tips for Success for more information.
- Glucomannan: This helps thicken the filling as the fruit releases its juice. You can also use xanthan gum.
- Kitchen staples: Butter, baking powder and salt.
Quick Overview: How to Make Keto Dump Cake
- Prepare the filling: Make your life simple by tossing the strawberries, rhubarb, sweetener, and thickener right in the baking dish!
- Make the “cake mix”: This keto mix uses a scaled down version of the dry ingredients from some of my keto cake recipes. You then simply sprinkle it overtop the filling as evenly as you can.
- Drizzle the butter: I actually found that spooning the melted butter over the dry mix gave me better overall coverage.
- Bake the cake: Pop it in the oven and wait until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges. Heavenly!
Tips for Success
For fruit fillings like this, I always recommend a glass or ceramic baking dish. The acidity from the rhubarb can react with metal and give the dessert a tinny taste.
You can make this recipe with other fruits, such as berries or peaches. But that will change the carb count. Rhubarb is very low carb and helps keep this recipe in range for people who eat a keto diet.
Err on the side of the cake becoming more browned on top, rather than less. It will allow more of the topping to become crisp.
As you drizzle the butter over the “cake mix”, try to get as even as possible. But it’s okay to have a few dry spots, they will still cook through. I found that spooning the butter over, rather than pouring from a bowl, allowed me to distribute it more evenly.
Sweetener Options
For the filling, you want to use a powdered sweetener to avoid any grittiness. But it can be erythritol or allulose, or really any sweetener you like best. The topping requires an erythritol based sweetener, with NO allulose in it, to crisp up properly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fresh rhubarb contains very few carbs per serving and is an excellent addition to your keto diet. Diced rhubarbs stalks have only 6g of carbs and 2g of fiber per cup. And it’s delicious in low carb desserts like dump cake!
A cake like this is best served fresh, although it will last in the refrigerator for 4 or 5 days. The topping won’t stay as crisp but it’s still delicious. Simply cover the whole dish with plastic wrap before refrigerating.
This keto strawberry rhubarb dump cake recipe has 7.4g of carbs and 3.4g of fiber per serving. If you count net carbs, that comes to 4 grams per serving.
Keto Dump Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 1/2 cups (305 g) chopped rhubarb
- 1 cup (144 g) chopped strawberries
- 1/2 cup (91 g) powdered sweetener
- 1/2 tsp glucomannan, can sub xanthan gum
Topping
- 1 1/4 cup (140 g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup erythritol sweetener
- 1/4 cup (30 g) coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup (151.33 g) butter, melted
Instructions
Filling
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease a 2-quart glass or ceramic baking dish.
- Add the rhubarb and strawberries to the dish and sprinkle with the sweetener and glucomannan. Toss well to combine.
Topping
- In a medium bow, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle evenly over the filling in the dish.
- Drizzle the melted butter as evenly as possible over the topping. This works best by spooning it over, rather than pouring from a bowl.
- Bake about 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown all over and the filling is bubbling up through in places. Remove and let cool (the topping will crisp up some as it cools).
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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If I use frozen fruit should I increase the glucomannan?
Good question! Frozen berries release a lot of moisture so it can’t hurt. Maybe double it?
So I couldn’t find rhubarb, fresh or frozen, so I substituted with CRANBERRIES. So good! It was perfect
Great idea!
Followed recipe completely but the “cake” part was so grainy and sandy. Not cake like at all.
Dump cake isn’t like cake at all. It’s meant to be more of a cobbler topping.
Do you sub glucomannan and xanathan gum in the same amounts? I bought a canister for a keto recipe and it’s been sitting on the shelf forever! Any tips on. How to use it are appreciated.
I’ve never had rhubarb. Can I make this with just stevia? Erythritol gives me gastric issues.
Thank you. Looks great.
Yes, I do. They seem to have about the same thickening power. The filling can probably be sweetened with whatever you like but the top crust won’t crisp up as nicely without erythritol.
Unsalted butter?
Depends on your tolerance for salt, but yes, most people use unsalted in baking.
This was so good! I made it on Monday, then made it again on Friday so we could take it to the cabin!
I love rhubarb and so wanted to love this cake, especially after searching for rhubarb for 2 months. Funny I could not find frozen rhubarb in my part of Canada. Anyway rhubarb season arrived and yesterday I made this cake. I followed the recipes exactly with no substitutes and it came out looking like the picture. That is where my excitement ended. Although the fruit part was lovely the cake part was just way too soggy and almost grainy. So I “dumped” it! I think I will save all the time and money spent on this recipe and use my remaining rhubarb for the Vanilla Rhubarb Custard recipe.
Excellent! I had frozen some rhubarb last year and it worked just perfectly for this recipe. It was easy to make and very delicious. Thanks for the great recipe! We will enjoy this again and again.
I made this, but with all rhubarb….because, Rhubarb! I added a bit of orange zest because that’s something Gramma did, and it was delicious. Just tart enough and the citrus note was perfection. Thank you Carolyn, this brought back some memories. I will be making this again and again. There will be a lot of rhubarb in my freezer shortly thanks to the giant, and ancient, patch in the back corner of the gardens.
This dump cake is one of the best low carb desserts I’ve made besides your cheesecake. If you like strawberries and rhubarb you won’t be disappointed. thanks!
So glad to hear that!
Unfortunately, this will not be a keeper for us. The flavor is pretty good but the texture is not at all. Very mushy. I followed the recipe exactly except I used Lakanto monkfruit sweetener.
I’ll try some of the other rhubarb recipes on this site because I have a ton of it and I’ve had good luck with other recipes here.
The top should not be mushy so I suspect the sweetener was the issue. Also… what flours did you use?
I can’t wait to try this! It sounds like the perfect keto dessert!
I don’t do enough with rhubarb! This looks so easy to make. 🙂
I love a delicious dessert that works well with my diet! This one is super great
Dump cakes are the best and I love this strawberry rhubarb flavor combo, so great for summer
Ugh, this was horrible. I had such high hopes…but is basically wet sand with some mushy fruit under it.
Sorry you didn’t love it but you can see many people do so I think something must have gone wrong on your end. What sweetener did you use?