Some desserts are absolutely iconic and I can say with confidence that this Keto Kentucky Butter Cake is one of them. This is the original, my friends! I first published this epic sugar-free treat back in 2017 and it became an instant success. So much so that look-alike recipes started popping up all over the internet. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say!
But you’ve managed to find your way to the OG keto butter cake, and I am glad you’re here. If you love rich, buttery desserts, you’ll be happy to know I have plenty of them. You might also enjoy my recipes for Keto Gooey Butter Cake and Keto Butter Cookies.
My devoted fans know that I am a stickler for both taste and texture. So I took my time developing this recipe, and figuring out how to achieve the classic Southern butter cake experience with low carb ingredients.
This cake has the perfect density, but still comes out with an incredibly tender crumb. And the buttery syrup soaks in while the cake still warm, to make it ultra-moist. It’s really is a stunner of a dessert, so it’s little wonder that there are so many copycat recipes. But now you know where it all started!
Why Readers Adore This Recipe
- Rich, buttery flavor: Readers often tell me that when they take this to a gathering, it’s the first dessert to disappear!
- Unbelievably moist: The cake is moist enough as it is but the buttery glaze adds even more moisture.
- Elegant presentation: Bundt cakes always look so elegant, all they need is a sprinkle of powdered sweetener and a few berries.
- Crowd-pleaser: Many folks report that everyone loves this cake, from kids to grandparents.
- Make ahead recipe: You can make it several days in advance and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Keto-friendly deliciousness: No grains, gluten, or sugar makes this an epic low carb treat.
What readers are saying
“I think this cake might be my favorite, and I’ve made many of your desserts. This moist, buttery cake does not even need the glaze! It’s that good. Comes together quickly, bakes to perfection, and yields lots of servings. It’s 10 ⭐️” — Lynn
Ingredient Notes
- Keto flours: This recipe uses both almond flour and coconut flour. The coconut flour helps with structure and offsetting all the delicious butter.
- Protein powder: As always, protein powder helps the cake rise better and have more structure. I recommend whey or egg white protein. Plant-based may also work but don’t use collagen protein.
- Butter: Butter cake needs to be made with copious amounts of butter. Please don’t ask me how to make this recipe lower fat. It’s a butter cake, after all!
- Sweetener: This bakes for quite a bit of time, so I recommend using mostly erythritol based sweeteners in the cake. See the Tips for Success for more details.
- Whipping cream: I use a mix of whipping cream and water as the liquid in this recipe.
- Kitchen staples: Eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
How to Make Keto Kentucky Butter Cake
- Combine the dry ingredients: Whisk the almond flour, coconut flour, whey protein, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sweetener until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Combine together: Add the almond flour mixture and beat until well combined. Transfer the batter to a large, well-greased bundt pan and bake until golden brown.
- Prepare the glaze: Melt the butter and sweetener together, whisking until combined. Whisk in the water and vanilla extract.
- Pour over the cake: While the cake is still warm, poke holes all over it with a skewer. Pour the glaze over and let cool completely in the pan.
- Garnish: Gently loosen the sides with a knife then flip out onto a serving platter. Dust with powdered sweetener.
Tips for Success
Take the time to grease the pan properly, as directed in the recipe. Bundt pans are notoriously tricky and sticky, and it can be tough to get cakes out in one piece. Particularly cakes as tender as this one! Make sure not to use pans with lots of nooks and crannies – a regular fluted pan works best.
Also let the cake cool completely but don’t let it stay in the pan much longer! I’ve noticed that keto baked goods begin to stick again if they stay in the pan much longer than that.
Use room temperature ingredients. I cannot state this strongly enough! Cold eggs will cause the nicely creamed butter to clump up again.
I don’t recommend trying to replace the coconut flour with more almond flour. Almond flour contains more moisture and it will make this cake far too soft.
Protein powder is an important part of this cake’s success so please don’t ask me if you can substitute anything.
Sweetener Options
I highly recommend using an erythritol based sweetener in the cake itself. Allulose browns more quickly and the part of the cake against the pan will darken considerably – and with a bundt cake, the majority of the cake is against the pan. It may also taste a little burnt.
That said, you are free to experiment with your preferred sweeteners. I just can’t guarantee the results.
You can use allulose-based sweeteners in the glaze, as that won’t cause any issues.
More Keto Bundt Cakes To Love
Keto Kentucky Butter Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 1/2 cups (260 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (27 g) unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened
- 1 cup (182 g) granular sweetener , erythritol recommended
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (119 g) whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (118.29 g) water
Butter Glaze
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup (60.67 g) granular sweetener, erythritol or allulose
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Garnish
- 1 to 2 tbsp powdered sweetener
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease a bundt cake pan VERY well and then dust with a few tbsp of almond flour. Pro Tip: double-grease your pan to help prevent sticking. Use a solid fat first, like butter or coconut oil, and then a spray like coconut or avocado.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, whey protein, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sweetener together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Beat in the almond flour mixture and then beat in the whipping cream and water until well combined.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown and the top of the cake is firm to the touch.
Butter Glaze
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and sweetener together. Whisk until well combined. Whisk in the water and vanilla extract.
- While the cake is still warm and in the pan, poke holes all over with a skewer. Pour the glaze over and let cool completely in the pan.
- Gently loosen the sides with a knife or thin rubber spatula, then flip out onto a serving platter. Dust with powdered sweetener.
- Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a very butter-forward recipe, so dairy-free substitutions will change the flavor and texture. Some readers have had success using high-fat plant-based butter, but the result won’t be quite as rich or classic as the original.
Because this is a large cake, I recommend using a 9-inch spring form pan or two 8-inch round cake pans. Baking time will vary, so start checking early and take it out when the top is just firm to the touch.
This keto Kentucky butter cake recipe has 5.5g of carbs and 2.5g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3g net carbs per slice.
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 Amazing!! I made it this afternoon and the recipe was easy to follow and the result was delicious! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!!
So glad you liked it!
This recipe is wonderful and has quickly become one of my families favorites!
I’m going to try to put an autumnal spin on it for thanksgiving by adding a little cinnamon to the cake and maple extract to the glaze. Have you made any variations like this that worked?
It should work just fine!
HOLY COW! I mean, seriously…THIS is my all time favorite keto dessert EVER! OK, well, I haven’t tried to do a crème brulee’ yet, but this cake is like ACTUAL cake! Thank you so much! I have two diabetics in my family and we try to stay very low carb, so desserts aren’t a familiar thing. I will confess, I very rarely just “follow” a recipe. It’s common in my house for someone to ask that very question, “Did you FOLLOW a recipe?” So, that said, I’ll tell you the variations I’ve made, SO FAR, with your cake.
Someone mentioned adding rum in the comments, and you told her how to make that happen. THANK YOU for that…that was the first one I made, and it was ridiculously good. Everyone here thought they had died and gone straight to Heaven. That cake didn’t last three days. I made it in a 9×13 glass pan, and sliced lengthwise down the center and then across to 20 slices. Plenty big for us and fewer carbs. I would do the bundt for an event cake tho…so pretty.
OK, so, round 2…we have a restaurant here called “Whiskey Cake”…named for their signature dessert, which I have never had because, hello? CARBS. The second cake in less than a week was a Whiskey Cake, and if theirs is this good, it’s worth naming a business for, cuz ZOMG! I’m told by my very Scottish friend, in the accent, that it’s “no’ whiskey, ‘hit’s SCOTCH!” Well, the bottle says Scotch Whiskey, so, whatever. It’s very expensive, so maybe that’s why it tastes so darn good. I admit I replaced all the water in the cake and glaze with it, and I also used a wee bit more in the glaze than the recipe called for…but totally SCRUMS! I wish you lived next door, so I could run some over.
OK, so that brings me to last night. We had some beef stew we made in the crockpot and every bread or muffin we’ve tried to do keto has been…well, unappealing. This is when my brain goes crazy and I think I can squeeze coal into diamonds and stuff. I love the texture of this cake so much, cuz it’s like REAL cake, and I thought, “If I make it not so sweet, maybe…like a corn bread kind of thing…maybe like cornbread and Red Lobster biscuits had a baby…hmmmm…” I sort of halved it and made some changes and came out with a very yummy corny/garlic cheese muffin.
This is what I changed:
3 – Large Eggs
.5 cup – Butter, softened
2 oz – Cream Cheese, softened
.5 cup – granulated sweetener, I use Xylosweet
.25 cup – Heavy Whipping Cream
.25 cup – Water
3/4 cup – Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour
1/4 cup – Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour
1/4 cup – Isopure Whey Protein Powder Unflavored
.5 tsp – Salt
1 tsp – Garlic powder
1.5 tsp – Baking Powder
0.25 cup – shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Everything else I did the same. Um, without booze. LOL No booze at all. Maybe I should have tried beer…JUST KIDDING!
Anyway, thank you so much for the recipe. It deserves, like, 15 stars! You’ve made us very happy!
Thanks so much!
Thank YOU so much! FYI, I also bought your book. ????
Today I’m trying this recipe in coconut… Tomorrow I’m making dressing with the leftover faux corn muffins. This really is my go to recipe now. It’s so easy. Also? Still losing weight.
This was AMAZING! Our Keto friends and non-Keto friends loved it. I served it with your SF lemon curd and fresh blueberries. Delicious!
What brand of whey protein do you use? Where do you get it from.
https://amzn.to/2DzWFVA
I’m always up for a healthier twist to a classic! More goodness and less guilt…I’d call that a winner!
I’m in love with this recipe, and can’t wait to make this cake (again and again)!
Low carb and grain free, this looks so dang good! I love having healthier dessert recipes on hand when needed 😉
Wow this looks so tasty and LOW CARB?? I am going to share this with all my KETO friends as I know they will love it too! Thank you!
Yum I love this! Thank you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been craving a rum cake and this is it. So I had vanilla flavored whey protein so instead of the vanilla flavoring in this recipe I substituted Rum flavoring. You are truly a lifesaver.
Thanks for the recipe. I made a half portion in my square silicone pan. I also used my own sweetners (combo of Truvia and monkfruit granulars). Absolutely delicious.
What quart-size bundt pan do you use in this recipe, Carolyn?
Thanks
Standard size, which is about 9.5 inches in diameter and 12 cups or so in volume. It can vary a little on that.
I just bought your book, “Easy Keto Desserts”, yesterday at Costco!! Loving your recipes!! Thanks for sharing with us!!
Thanks, Jane! Hope you enjoy it.
Hi!
This might be a completely silly question though I am wondering, could I make the whipping cream with heavy whipping cream?
Thank you!!
PS!!!! Your recipes never disappoint! <3
Whipping cream and heavy whipping cream are essentially the same thing. They only vary by a just a little fat content. So what I actually use is heavy whipping cream anyway.
Can’t wait to try this. Can you please tell me, is the missing net carb due to the sweetener? It comes out to 3 net carb just subtracting the fiber. So im assuming since you had put 2.04 carbs that the other is sugar alcohol. My dad’s my tester and he is very strict with his carbs and always asks. Lol.
Thank you
No I think I just made a calculation error there. The net carbs should be 3.04