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 almond milk, lime juice, 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
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Hi Carolyn! I’m making this for a ladies brunch. I was thinking that I could make another loaf in addition, except take away the lime juice and zest and add vanilla for a vanilla pound cake. Obviously, the juice has to be replaced with another liquid, but I’m trying to decide if I should I use milk, water, or something else. What would you recommend? And I think for the glaze I’ll just replace juice with water and a bit of vanilla. That should work, right? (I’m not a super experienced baker.)
Love your recipes & your videos. Thank you for this recipe – can I substitute a monk fruit/allulose blend for the sweetener? I don’t buy the erythritol anymore due to the cooling nature. Thanks for your help!
Just be aware that allulose browns baked goods much more quickly and the exterior may get much darker.
This is so easy to make and tasted really amazing! Thanks for sharing this key lime pound cake! So helpful, loved it!
Yum!! This really is a refreshing & tasty dessert!! It’s the perfect combination of sweet & tart!
I made this cake yesterday for a friend’s birthday. It was sooo good! Even our non-keto friends loved it! I read the recipe wrong and thought it was 2 T of lime zest instead of 2 tsp. It was awesome and not over-flavored AT ALL so I’d recommend a little more zest for a more lime flavor. Thank you for this awesome recipe. AMAZING!!!!! 🙂
I dont quite understand the bit about “cover with foil after 45minutes” “bake for 1 hour”?
Am I letting it sit out for 45mins, then covering and baking?
Total bake time is 1 hour. After 45 minutes of baking, you cover it with foil so it doesn’t over-brown.
I tried this recipe today. It fell completely apart into crumbs!! A lot of work and expensive ingredients to be a pile of crumbs! What could have went wrong?
Well it’s hard to say without more info, but something definitely went wrong. A few questions: what brand of almond flour? What brand of sweetener? and did you let it cool completely before trying to cut it?
I just keep seeing adverts for your paleo key lime pound cake, but you don’t show the recipe anywhere, just photos. Where is the recipe?
Big link at the bottom that says PLEASE SEE MY LOW CARB KEY LIME POUND CAKE ON SWERVE SWEETENER. Hope that helps!
Can I use macadamia milk in place of almond milk?
Yep that should be fine.
I made this and loved it! Although i must be honest, i use regular sugars and honey so it’s not keto for me, but it is lower carb than using regular gluten free flours. I adore using your recipes for the mix of almond and coconut flours this cake was so good i turned the left overs into cake balls and then used them inside a lime cheesecake and then i made the extra into cake balls dipped into melted white chocolate. Absolutely delicious! If i have leftover cheesecake i will make lime cheesecake no churn ice cream with it.
Can I replace with full cream milk instead almond milk?
Cream will be too thick. You can use half cream and half water.
i can’t pull up the recipe! it keeps saying ‘internal server error’. HELP!
I’m asking them what’s going on right now…
Can I use hwc and water as a sub for almond milk?
Sure!
My challenge is I’m sensitive to almonds ( like reacting with and arthrtis flare in my joints). Can I use a gluten free flour mix instead? And coconut milk. I made this a couple years ago. It was lovely!
You can try but I honestly don’t know what the amounts would be.
Will the THM baking blend work for this and what would the measurements be? And gentle sweet measurements?
You definitely can but I am not sure of the amount. THM has a conversion chart for sugar and since Swerve measures like sugar, try using the conversion for sugar.
Is this really 13 net carbs per slice?
No, it’s more like 4g because you have to subtract the Swerve grams too. Erythritol has no impact on blood glucose.
I am dairy sensitive- can I use coconut oil in place of the butter in this cake?
Yes, although use a few tbsp less because it can be a little greasier with coconut oil.
Gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks for the recipe 😉
The cake had a great flavor but didn’t hold together; the texture was a bit like a sandcastle. I did use fine almond flour….is there a different type I should use or do you suspect a different problem? I would like to try again!
What brand is it? It shouldn’t be the defatted type that’s super powdery. But it is easy to mismeasure using volume and if you had too much, it would make the cake more dry and delicate. A cup of almond flour should only weigh about 100g.
What if you can’t use Swerve?? I am sensitive to erythritol.
For the cake, you can use whatever sweetener you want. For the glaze, you really need a powdered sweetener of some sort.
I don’t know, I think this cake could actually be just as addicting as crack. Looks lovely!
I would like this lime pound cake RIGHT NOW with some tea. YUM.
I saw the recipe and went directly to Amazon and bought the key lime juice and swerve.
Oh, my, that looks good! (and moist!) Can’t wait to try it. While you are on a cake kick… how about the “Lemon Fresh Berry Mascarpone” cake? I had a piece in a tiny country cafe in Little Switzerland, NC, and it has been my favorite cake ever since. It was SO fresh, moist and not too sweet. I have made this version (not low carb) years ago, but need a low carb, healthier version!! I know you can do it! lol Please accept the challenge! Love all your recipes!
https://cakescraps.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/lemon-berry-mascarpone-cake/
Oooh, that is gorgeous, I will definitely put it on the list!