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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I don’t think I have ever commented on a recipe….but this cake was wonderful. Thank you for such a great recipe, it was pretty easy to make too!
So glad to hear it!
How have I been missing out on this deliciousness all of my life?! This cake sounds amazing!
I made this for my low-carb neighbor and we all loved it! Such a delicious recipe.
Love that this fits right into my new low card diet! I’m not skipping out on cake again!
My husband requests this every year for his bday! It’s SO good!
So happy to hear that!
I love pound cake but I love that it’s low carb even more! Thanks!
Hi!
Can I use Almond Meal instead of Almond Flour?
Thanks for all you do to keep those of us who need to feed our “sweet tooth” and stay on Keto.
I bought Bocha Sweet for another recipe and would like to know if I can substitute it for your Swerve Granular? (I know it cannot be substituted for the Swerve Confectioner)
I too would like to know the size of the Bundt pan since there is no response to that question since 10 January. And can you change things to make cupcakes with the batter or do you need to change anything?
So I am not entirely sure Bocha Sweet will do here. I’ve been playing around with it a fair bit and finding that while it’s great in more liquid applications, like caramel sauce and ice cream, it’s making some of my baked too soft and a bit prone to falling apart. I haven’t trie dit in a big cake like this.
Oh size of pan: Really any large bundt pan that holds 8 to 10 cups will do.
I’ve made it twice with Boca Sweet. Delicious!
I made this cake today,and tried a half batch in an 8×8 pan, came out perfect!! This is AMAZING!!! I am a low carb sweets snob, very picky, and am challenged to make a dessert that does not taste low carb. This was a WINNER!! The only change I made was to add 1 squirt of SweetLeaf caramel stevia drops to the glaze. Sooooo good, everyone loved it, hands down! Thanks for an amazing recipe 🙂
So delighted to hear it!
Thank you – thank you for this deliciousness! My husband calls it the Krispy Kreme cake 🙂
I made it a week ago.
I am making it again this weekend.
I will make it next weekend for my birthday!
That’s a fun name for it! 🙂
Anxious to make this. What capacity size bundt is this? Can Swerve confectioners be used instead of granular. Would cupcakes eliminate the problem people have getting it out of the pan? thank you……..
Hi! Just wanted to than you for this recipe, I made this as a “rosca de reyes” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosca_de_reyes), a tradition in Mexico, half of my family are on the keto diet and were very happy to have cake.
It was delicious! Even my nieces prefered this over the traditional one! I think that is a success!
Thanks again!
Thanks so much, glad everyone enjoyed it!
Would it work well to use Monk Fruit instead of Swerve. Swerve and Stevia upset my husbands stomach
If so is it equal measurements?
Thank you
That depends. Are you using monk fruit extract which is highly concentrated? Or are you referring to Lakanto, which is really just erythritol with a little monk fruit?
What do you think about using the defatted almond flour you recommended for another recipe?
I haven’t used it much but it won’t really work in this recipe. Defatted means it’s drier and more powdery so it needs a lot of eggs and a lot of liquid. I’d use regular almond flour here.
Please subscribe me to your recipe columns. My grandson (age 13) was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease, and I am the only one who will bake for him. Thank you!
I just added you!
I made this cake for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. There’s no way I can make this for a non-holiday and keep it in my house, I’d eat the whole thing. I’m thinking maybe next time trying almond extract instead of vanilla. My grandma used to make a yellow cake with almond and we always loved it. This cake tasted like a glazed cake donut…so decadent. Thank you for sharing this recipe, it has a permanent home in my recipe box!
It would be excellent with almond extract!