Keto Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

A Paula Deen classic goes keto! You’re going to love this delectable low carb Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Sugar-free and grain-free. This post is sponsored by Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

Gooey butter cake! Isn’t that just the loveliest phrase you’ve ever heard? Let me say it again for you. Gooey butter cake!

Want to make it sound even better? How about this: Keto Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake! Now that may be the most delicious combination or words I’ve ever heard.

I thought I was done with new keto pumpkin recipes this season. I have so many in my recipe archives already and I added a few new ones this fall, most notably the keto pumpkin crumb cake and the keto instant pot pumpkin cheesecake. I felt I’d sufficiently fulfilled my pumpkin duties for the year.

And then a reader messaged me over Instagram, begging me to makeover Paula Deen’s famous pumpkin gooey butter cake. And then it became all I could think about for several days. I knew it had to be done.

Reinventing Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Gooey butter cake relies heavily on three things for its delicious gooeyness: cream cheese, butter, and eggs.

So it’s of the utmost importance that your ingredients are good quality. I make sure to source organic cream cheese and butter, and I always rely on Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs for my holiday baking. Their eggs are Certified Humane Free Range, so I can feel good about doing my part to support smaller family farms that practice humane and sustainable farming.

The crust of a conventional gooey butter cake is made with vanilla cake mix, but I make mine from scratch with some of the same ingredients I would use for a cake. Then, I add one egg and a whole stick of melted butter, staying true to the idea of gooey butter cake. It essentially takes cake mix and turns it into a firm but tender crust.

Then, to get that super gooey pumpkin filling, I followed Paula Deen’s recipe pretty closely with 8 ounces of cream cheese and another stick of butter. I cut back on the pumpkin a bit to make sure it wasn’t watery, and added 2 Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

I also used quite a bit less sweetener. The original takes a full pound of powdered sugar, which is two full cups! Like many keto dieters, my taste for sweets has changed tremendously, so I used only 1 cup of sweetener in total. I used mostly powdered sweetener, with a little brown sugar substitute to deepen the flavor.

The Ultimate Keto Pumpkin Cake

I was expecting to like this, but I honestly didn’t expect to like it this much. The crust was tender but sturdy, and the filling was truly gooey and full of amazing pumpkin flavor.

You’re not going to like hearing this, but you absolutely must let this keto cake cool completely before cutting it into bars. I know, I know, I wanted to dig in right out of the oven, too! But because of the pumpkin, this is even more gooey and moist than my regular keto gooey butter cake.

Mine took the full 60 minutes to bake through and could possibly have baked even 5 minutes longer. I took it out when the sides were set nicely within about 2 inches of the edge of the pan, but the center was still quite jiggly. I deliberately underbaked because I wanted true gooeyness.

 So it really needs to sit and cool for a few hours to avoid being mushy. You can pop it in the fridge to help it firm up a little faster.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake Recipe

A Paula Deen classic goes keto! You’re going to love this delectable sugar-free Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake.

5 from 6 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pumpkin gooey butter cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 15 servings

Calories: 219kcal

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups almond flour
• ½ cup Swerve Granular or other granulated eryrhritol
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• ⅔ cup Swerve Confectioners or other powdered erythritol
• ¼ cup Swerve Brown or other brown sugar replacement
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Cake

• Preheat oven to 325F and lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ glass or ceramic baking dish (metal is not recommended).
• In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, granulated sweetener, baking powder, and salt. Add the melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract, and stir well to combine. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish and press into the bottom and up the sides.
• Press this mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared baking dish.

Pumpkin Filling

• In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and softened butter until smooth. Beat in the powdered and brown sweeteners until well combined, then beat in the pumpkin, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla until smooth.
• Pour the filling over the crust. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until the sides are set about 2 inches from the edges of the pan, while the center is still a little jiggly.
• Remove the cake from oven and let cool completely before cutting into squares. Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream if desired.

Notes

Storage Information: Store the cake, tightly covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days. It can also be frozen for several months. Make sure to wrap it up tightly to avoid freezer burn. 

Nutrition Facts

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 piece)

Calories 219 Calories from Fat 178

% Daily Value*

Fat 19.8g30%

Carbohydrates 4.8g2%

Fiber 2.1g8%

Protein 4.8g10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.