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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Hello, Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe, its soooo good! I didnt have whey protein, so i used vital wheat gluten, and it turned out fine..i just upped the coconut flour and used 1 tbs of the vwg. I also used whipping cream instead of water, for the butter glaze..OMG! You Rock! Please keep the recipes coming!
I made this yesterday evening and it wasn’t yet cool when I went to bed. I am really impressed with how easily this released from my silicone bundt pan, but I had sprayed it really, really well. I have trouble regulating my oven temp, so it cooked a little high and got overly brown while it wasn’t yet set. After an hour, I turned the oven off and left it in there. I made the butter glaze and put it on and was so afraid it was just going to be mush. I even made my hubby wait until this morning for a piece, and we had it for breakfast. Unfortunately, mine did not have the lovely light yellow color because I was almost out of fine almond flour and had to make some from whole almonds- so I have a brown color which isn’t as attractive. But the flavor and texture are super lovely! We are having friends over for tea tomorrow and I almost don’t want to share. Again, thanks so much for the wonderful cake recipe- all of your recipes really. I have now made the chocolate peppermint bundt cake, the pecan pie bundt cake and this one. I love all of them!
I am glad it worked out okay!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes. I am wondering if there is something I can use in place of the whey protein? Whey protein and I do not get along. I really want to try this cake but can not use the whey.
Thank you for your help in advance.
Can you use egg white protein? I find this brand to be a great sub for whey. http://amzn.to/2rr8l6A
No worries! Ill figure it out! 😉
Thank you so much for all of your recipes. I’m following a keto diet, which is the only diet that has ever allowed me to lose weight and keep it off without intense cravings. But, I do love desserts, so your recipes are a lifesaver. This cake is perfect! I would like to make it for my grandson’s birthday, but I am not sure about erythritol for a baby. Would any of the ingredients change if I used maple syrup instead?
Maple syrup is liquid so that will introduce more liquid if you don’t cut back on the other liquids.
Thank you, I made it today and followed your directions exactly and it’s perfect. I will probably leave out the water when I make it with the maple syrup. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Thank you. So im guessing, the vital wheat gluten wouldnt work at all?
I have no idea. Sorry.
Hi, forgive me if you answered this question already..but, I dont have any whey protein or egg white powder. I do have vital wheat gluten, but dont want to experiment, as I hate to waste anything.. 😉 Could you tell me what, if anything I could substitute, and how much.
Thank you so much! Hoping I can perfect this before hubby gets home! He doesnt like low carb, but is diabetic.So I try to sneak sf, lc, in whenever I can! 🙂
There is not a good substitute. And for many recipes, I’d say you could skip it but for this cake, it’s necessary to help it hold together properly.
OMGoodness! I made this cake today and I’m so glad I did! This is simply excellent!! Thank you for creating this LC, Keto-friendly recipe! This will become my go-to cake for entertaining! (BTW: I didn’t use the full measure of strictly Swerve b/c I think the aftertaste could ruin this sweet flavor. I used a blend of Swerve, Xylitol, Sukrin Gold, & Stevia. Tastes like honey!)
Any chance you remember the proportions of Swerve, xylitol, Sukrin Gold, and Stevia you used? I have all those and I’m hoping to avoid the Swerve cooling effect when I make this cake. Thanks!
I live in NZ and wondering are the ingredients available here?
I don’t know, I wouldn’t have a clue what’s available in NZ. Wish I could help!
So I was really excited to try this tonight and I “thought” I had all of the ingredients. Fast forward to the addition of the HWC and water and my container is virtually empty. ☹️ So…. I subbed 1/2 c sour cream and about 3/4 c water. The batter tasted good but I don’t know if it’s actually going to turn out right. It’s in the oven now. I’ll let you know when it comes out. ?
OH MY WORD! This cake is so good! I made this for my family 2 days ago. I am dairy intolerant, but I can handle some butter. My substitutions to reduce the dairy worked so well! Instead of 1 Cup of butter, I used 1/2 Cup butter and 1/2 Cup of Palm Shortening. Then I used egg white protein powder instead of Whey. I also subbed grass fed Ghee for some of the butter in the glaze and I used Sukrin Gold instead of swerve for this step, and OH MY! What a winner! It is definitely better cooled ! We put it in the fridge, and let me tell you that my carbavore son KEPT coming back for more!!! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe that I can take to family gatherings!!!
Glad it worked out!
What can we use instead of Whey Protein Powder?
Egg white protein powder.
Can sucralose be used in place of swerve?
Possibly. I can’t guarantee it as it may change the texture somewhat.
I thought xantham gum helped bind things together? Would that work instead of the whey protein? And if so, do you know how much?
It does help bind things. But whey protein does as well and it also helps the cake rise and holds its shape. There’s already some xanthan in this recipe.
This looks awesome. My new silicone Bunt cake pan arrived today. So I will be baking this for Sunday dessert. I can’t wait to try it.
Any suggestions for best place to purchase the unflavored whey protein? I’m finding it to be very expensive and I hate to throw money away on something I may not like. Also looking for best prices on Swerve.
Thanks
To be honest…Amazon. At least for the whey protein. You can sometimes find better deals on Swerve in-store. Bob’s Red Mill unflavoured whey is reasonably priced. http://amzn.to/2q5f5D6
I used Collagen instead. maybe that would work for you if you already have that?
Sprouts has it in bulk, so you can buy a small amount to see if you like it. It worked great in this cake.