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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Dear Carolyn, when I post your recipes I always give you credit, even if I change some of the ingredients! I bought three of your hard cover books as xmas presents this year, you are truly an inspiration . Just made this cake and posted it in my facebook group. I could never have continued with Keto without you! That is the truth.
This cake was Y U M M Y
Thanks, Penny!
Looks like I’m late to the game but this cake is amazing! My husband says it’s one of the best things he’s ever tasted! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe
Forgive me if you have already answered this question, but is whey protein powder the same thing as whey protein isolate? I suppose what I’m really asking is if you think the isolate will function in the recipe the same way the whey protein powder will? Thanks so much for all your great cookbooks and this website.
Don’t know if you ever got an answer to this but I used Whey Protein Isolate and it was fine!
Carolyn,
I love all the recipes I’ve tried from your website and just recently purchased your baking book! Got one for my sister as well. I want to make this cake this coming weekend to try it out before adding rum to it. How would you add that? Replace the water for rum on the glaze? Thank you for all your delicious recipes!!
Which book do you have? If you happen to have the big baking book, there is a rum cake quite similar in style to this. If you don’t, I’d do 1/2 cup rum in the cake itself (reduce other liquid by 1/2 cup), and replace some of the water in the syrup with rum as well, after baking.
I have the 2017 version of this recipe. I see the ingredients amounts have changed. Do you feel this is better? I’ve made the original and it’s yummy!
have not made this yet but it is on my list. I was wondering how much the carbs would change if I used some bourbon in place of the water in the cake and the glaze. After all it is Kentucky cake and Kentucky is famous for bourbon.
Hi Carolyn.
I’m attempting this cake tomorrow so I was wondering if I could sub brown swerve and rum in the sauce for a richer taste.
What do you think. I used to make the Bacardi Rum cake so I’m trying to recreate that.
Yup, absolutely!
Carolyn!!!!
This cake is the BOMB! I usually make it without the glaze (a bit to sweet for my taste) and make either a whipped cream or cream cheese or chocolate frosting for it if I want a frosting with it. This stuff is amazing toasted for breakfast. And yeah, I will make this cake JUST for that reason. I have also fed this cake to non keto/LC folks and they have no idea it is sugar and wheat flour free. They love the cake. I very much look forward to trying more of your recipes. Thank you for sharing it!
-Rena
Thank you, Rena!
Hi Carolyn, thank you for this recipe! It works and turns out very well each time I bake it. I omit out the glaze but add about 20g butter to the recipe and the cake is still moist and delicious ????
Oh baby, oh baby! I wish I could post a photo as this turned out gorgeous. I stuck to your recipe. Lucky for me I live alone and my cat’s not one for sweets. I’ve had a generous slice every night for the last week. This cake tastes better now than it did the first day or two. Thanks for all your hard work on research & development to the benefit of the rest of us!
I absolutely love this cake, but was wondering if I could use Bocha Sweet instead of erythritol in the butter sauce, so it doesn’t crystallize when it’s cooled? Would that work?
I’d probably do half Swerve, half BochaSweet, otherwise it may end up too runny.
AFTER A YEAR ON KETO AND BAKING MY FAIR SHARE OF DISAPPOINTING CAKES, I DECIDED TO GIVE IT ONE MORE TRY AND BUY A TIN OF PROTEIN POWDER AND MAKE THIS KENTUCKY BUTTER CAKE. AM I GLAD THAT I DID. THE TEXTURE WAS SUCH THAT I WOULD FREELY SERVE IT TO A NON-KETO WITHOUT APOLOGIES. OF COURSE, I COULDN’T RESIST SUBBING BOURBON FOR WATER IN THE SOAK. OH MY! WONDERFUL. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SO MUCH OBVIOUS EFFORT AND TALENT INTO YOUR KETO BAKING. I HOPE THAT YOUR HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN MANY WAYS.
Thanks, Angela!
Wow! I’m test tasting for the holidays and this one made the cut! I paired it with your peach ice cream 🙂 I also used spiced rum as another viewer mentioned and it was great! I couldn’t really taste the rum but I could feel it on my tongue. I’m going to try some of the other variations people have mentioned. This is a winner! You did an awesome job Carolyn!
Your Kentucky butter cake is my all time favorite special occasion cake, Anyone I’ve served it to, requests a slice to take home with them. I live on dirt road, with 7 homes. Four of them inhabited by frail elders, who have become very isolated since Covid-19 made it’s ugly presence known I started baking a weekly treat in April, when they started getting depressed. Since that time, this amazing cake has been requested over & over again. (Not that everybody didn’t love the rhubarb coffee cake, or your lemon bars!) This is the cake that dreams are made of. Thank you for giving me all of my favorite keto recipes, through the years. I will be baking this elegant & delicious cake next week for my son’s 10 person wedding at he & his sweethearts request.
Just made this today, but subbed the water for rum as recommended by someone else on IG and added pecans to the bottom. It was PERFECT! Cake was super moist!! I took mine out at 50 min and probably could have taken it out at 45, but it was still GOOD! I def want to try make this again, but w/out the rum. Thank you so much Carolyn!!!
I am dairy-free but do use grass-fed butter for baking. I have been using a dairy-free, plant-based protein powder as a meal supplement/replacement. Can I use this rather than the protein powder listed in the recipe? I have seen protein powder listed ibn a number of recipes and am hoping I can use my product as I know it meets the dietary framework I use. Thank You.
I honestly have no idea since I don’t use it. You will simply need to try.