If you love key limes, you are going to be head over heals for this keto almond flour cake. The bright citrusy lime flavor offsets the sweet, tender cake to perfection.
I seem to have a slight obsession with cake at the moment. And by “slight”, I mean can’t stop thinking about cake, making cake, eating cake and dreaming up delectable keto cake recipes. And by “at the moment”, I really mean for about as long as I’ve been making low carb treats!
Key limes are one of those wonderful ingredients that lend themselves to a wide array of delicious goodies. Of course, I have a classic Keto Key Lime Pie recipe, as well as keto key lime cheesecake. And this pound cake recipe is an oldie but a goodie.
It’s been on my website for almost 8 year so it was definitely time for an update!
You’ll love this updated recipe!
With a few small tweaks, I’ve made this delicious keto pound cake better than ever.
- It’s easy: This lovely low carb key lime cake is relatively simple to make, as cakes go.
- Great flavor: Bright and citrusy, with a lovely key lime glaze drizzled over.
- Perfect texture: This cake has a fine, tender crumb – as long as you use good ingredients and follow my instructions, of course!
- Great for any occasion: This is the sort of cake that you can whip up easily for company and serve as brunch, tea, or dessert.
Reader’s Thoughts
“Loved this recipe, the flavour of the lime through the cake and the glaze was delicious. The size of the cake was also fabulous it has a good depth to it and the texture is amazing.” — Valerie
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: Fine blanched almond flour will give you the best texture for all of your keto cakes.
- Protein powder: Gluten is a protein and in its absence, another dry protein powder helps keto cakes rise and hold their shape. I recommend whey or egg white protein for this recipe.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for the cake. You will need a powdered sweeten for the glaze.
- Key limes: You can squeeze fresh limes or purchase the bottled key lime juice.
- Kitchen staples: Butter, eggs, baking powder, and salt.
Step by Step Directions
- Combine the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream the butter: In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until lightened and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs until well combined.
- Add remaining ingredients: Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in the lime juice, water, and lime zest. Beat in the remaining almond flour mixture.
- Bake: Transfer to a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake at 325ºF for 55 to 65 minutes. Cover with foil at about the halfway point to make sure the top doesn’t get overly browned. The cake is done with the edges are golden and the top is firm to the touch.
- Glaze the cake: Whisk the powdered sweetener and lime juice together until smooth (should be somewhat runny). Drizzle over the cooled cake.
Tips for Success
Key limes are teeny tiny things and it takes quite a few of them to get enough juice. They are a pain to squeeze! So I recommend the bottled juice from concentrate if you can find it. Many grocery stores carry it, as does Amazon. You will also need some lime zest, so you will need a fresh key lime or other lime variety.
If your loaf pan is not very non-stick, consider lining it with with parchment on the bottom and along the long sides, with some overhanging edges. It will make it easier to remove.
Dairy-Free Option: Replace the butter with avocado oil (or another neutral tasting oil). Use egg white protein powder instead of whey protein.
Sweetener Options: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for the cake, because allulose can make it brown much faster. A loaf cake like this takes a long time to bake, so it can become overly dark. The sides against the pan may even taste burnt.
If you are looking to cut back on erythritol, try using only 1/3 to 1/2 cup, and sweetening the rest with pure stevia or pure monk fruit extract.
For the glaze, you can use whatever powdered sweetener you like best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Key limes are hard to find so you can use regular or small Persian limes instead.
Although they are slightly sweeter and less tart than regular limes, key limes can be used in keto recipes. The juice has only about 3g of carbs per ounce (two tablespoons).
This keto key lime pound cake recipe has 7.8g of carbs and 3g of fiber per serving. That comes to 4.8g net carbs per slice.
More delicious keto lime recipes
Keto Key Lime Pound Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup unflavored whey protein powder, or egg white protein powder
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup granular sweetener
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup key lime juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp key lime zest
Glaze
- 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 to 3 tsp key lime juice
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan very well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until lightened and fluffy. Beat in the eggs until well combined.
- Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in the lime juice, water, and lime zest. Finally, beat in the remaining almond flour mixture.
- Transfer to the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes. Cover with foil at about the halfway point to make sure the top doesn't get overly browned. The cake is done with the edges are golden and the top is firm to the touch.
Glaze
- Whisk the powdered sweetener and lime juice together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake.
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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Would collagen powder be a decent protein powder in this recipe?
No… collagen tends to make baked goods gummy and hard to cook through.
I tried to make this , sigh. I used allulose/monkfruit powdered sugar sub. The only thing I didn’t have was lime zest. It took forever to bake, middle was not cooked while edges got overdone. I did cover it part way thru at 325. It just tasted nasty and edges were overbrown almost burnt. Not quite sure what else I did wrong . Thought maybe it was the allulose blend. It was lakato… but it not getting done in the middle suggests too much liquid? I used whey protein powder… ended up throwing it out, even trimming off brown edges didn’t salvage it…
You clearly did not read my tips section, where I state: “Sweetener Options: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for the cake, because allulose can make it brown much faster. A loaf cake like this takes a long time to bake, so it can become overly dark. The sides against the pan may even taste burnt.
If you are looking to cut back on erythritol, try using only 1/3 to 1/2 cup, and sweetening the rest with pure stevia or pure monk fruit extract.
For the glaze, you can use whatever powdered sweetener you like best.”
what can I use to substitute if I do not want to use any protein powder? thank you!
You can replace it with more almond flour but please be aware that the cake will be less fluffy and won’t rise as nicely.
I made this today and the top kinda cratered in but it smells wonderful. what did I do wrong? I thought maybe it happened when I opened the oven to put the foil on 🤔
Not sure what you mean by “cratered”? Did it fall after baking?
I did it. It was very easy to do. I used erythitrol instead of swerve, the flavor is a little off at the end, but it is ok. The shape is amazing. I thought it was going to be different from the photos, but no! It looks great.
I wish I could send a photo for you to see.
Lol! Thought I was losing my mind! Made the cake, asked about the water/almond milk then went back while the cake is in the oven, and it’s fixed! Thanks!
I’m just making this cake now….the recipe lists water as an ingredient, but does not list almond milk. The instructions say to add the almond milk….is it 1/4 cup almond milk, not water? Here goes!…..
It should be fixed now, I fixed it this morning…
Hi , could I just use limes instead of the Key Lime Juice ? Thanks.
Sorry should have read through the notes about the limes 😊