Indulge in all the luscious flavor and texture of classic Italian tiramisu without the carbs. This easy Keto Tiramisu features layers of coffee-soaked almond flour cake layered with mascarpone whipped cream. One bite and you will swear you are enjoying the real deal in your favorite trattoria!
Tiramisu is one of those timeless classics that surprises you with its creamy richness. I was hooked from the moment I first tried this coffee-flavored layered dessert and I ordered it every time I went to a good Italian restaurant. And when I went low carb for my health, I knew I had to find a way to make it keto-friendly.
Love coffee-flavored desserts? You will also want to try Keto Coffee Cheesecake and Keto Espresso Shortbread.
Long ago, I hit upon the idea of using thin layers of keto vanilla cake in place of the standard ladyfingers. They soak up the coffee in the same way the spongy cookies do, and they provide a great base without the added carbs. I also simplified the luscious filling, forgoing the fussy zabaglione in favor of whipped cream folded into sweetened mascarpone.
I first wrote this recipe in 2013 and since then, I’ve made a few tweaks to make it even easier and lower in carbs. But it remains an oft-requested favorite of my friends. Many of them swear that they prefer it to the original! This Keto Tiramisu offers all of the classic Italian flavor without weighing you down.
Reader’s Thoughts
“I made this Tiramisu recipe this week and all I can say is WOW! I followed your recipe exactly and the results were spectacular. My husband who rarely says more than “this is good” ate his piece (well actually 2 pieces) and declared that if I hadn’t told him it was from my kitchen he would have thought it came from an Italian bakery in our neighborhood! High praise indeed! Thank you!” — Bobbi
Why you need to try this recipe
- Updated recipe: The cake is now a bit thinner, giving the dessert a better cream-to-cake ratio. And it’s lighter in calories!
- Classic flavor: With coffee soaked cake and creamy mascarpone, this has all the tiramisu flavor you crave.
- Classic texture: The cake softens as it sits with the coffee and filling, so it has the same tender, creamy texture that yields delightfully to your fork.
- Simplified prep: No heated egg yolks for zabaglione or other complicated steps.
- Low carb and gluten-free: This dessert has no wheat or gluten, and only xx grams of carbs per serving.
- Make ahead recipe: You can easily make this recipe several days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: This is an almond flour based cake recipe. See the Tips for success if you would prefer to make it with coconut flour.
- Sweetener: The cake requires granular sweetener and the filling uses powdered sweetener.
- Protein powder: A little protein powder helps the cake be more light and fluffy. Whey protein works best but egg white and plant based protein can work as well.
- Coffee: You can use espresso or strongly brewed coffee.
- Rum: Classic tiramisu usually has a liqueur or rum, but you can skip this if you prefer.
- Mascarpone cheese: This creamy Italian soft cheese has a naturally sweet taste. If you can’t find it, you can use cream cheese, but it is more dense and heavy.
- Heavy whipping cream: Whipped cream helps make the filling more voluminous.
- Garnish: Dust the top with cocoa powder and a little shaved chocolate for classic flavor and appearance.
- Kitchen staples: Butter, eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt.
Overview: How to Make Keto Tiramisu
- Prepare the batter: Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the eggs, butter, vanilla, and water. Stir until smooth.
- Bake the cake: Spread the batter in a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake until golden and set. Let cool completely.
- Make the coffee mixture: In a small bowl, whisk together the coffee and the rum.
- Prepare the filling: Beat the mascarpone until smooth, then beat in the sweetener and a little of the coffee mixture. Separately, whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Fold the two mixtures together.
- Assemble the layers: Cut pieces of cake to fit into an 8×8 inch pan. Brush with coffee mixture then spread half of the mascarpone mixture over top. Repeat with remaining cake, coffee mixture, and mascarpone mixture.
- Garnish: Dust the top with cocoa powder and grate the chocolate over top. Refrigerate until firm.
Tips for Success
- I updated the cake recipe to make the layers a little thinner. I like the ratio of cake to filling better this way. A jelly roll pan (15×11 inches) works best for this. You can use other pan sizes, but it will change the thickness of the cake and how long it takes to bake.
- Mascarpone can be a bit finicky and curdle easily, so be sure not to over-beat it. Let the mascarpone come to room temperature before beating.
- For a nut-free version, use the batter from my Keto Chantilly Cake. I am not sure how long it will take to bake in a sheet pan so keep a close eye on it in the oven.
Sweetener Options: For both the cake and the filling, you can use your preferred sweetener. The cake may brown a little more quickly with allulose so keep your eye on it in the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional mascarpone is a creamy soft cheese that has almost zero carbs per serving. It has a slightly sweet flavor because it is made with full cream. But some brands do add milk, which can add carbs. Check the labels and try to get mascarpone that has less than 1 gram carbs per serving.
Absolutely! This easy tiramisu recipe has no eggs so as long as your mascarpone and cream are fresh, it will be fine for up to a week in the fridge. As with any dessert recipe, wrap it up tightly. It can also be stored in the freezer for up to two months.
This keto tiramisu recipe has 5.8g of carbs and 2.6g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.2g net carbs per slice.
More Keto Italian Desserts
Keto Tiramisu Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 2 cups (200 g) almond flour
- 1/2 cup (95 g) granular sweetener
- 1/4 cup (36 g) unflavored whey protein powder, (or egg white protein powder)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg white
- 1/3 cup (75.67 g) butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (59.15 ml) water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Coffee Syrup
- 1/3 cup (78.86 ml) espresso or strongly brewed coffee
- 1 tbsp dark rum
Tiramisu Filling
- 16 ounces (453.59 g) mascarpone, softened
- 3/4 cup (136.5 g) powdered sweetener, divided
- 3/4 cup (178.5 g) heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) vanilla extract
Garnish
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 ounce (14.17 g) sugar-free dark chocolate
Instructions
Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and grease a rimmed 15×11 inch rimmed sheet pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment and grease the parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, protein powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the eggs, egg white, butter, water, and vanilla extract until well combined and smooth.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the top is just firm to the touch. Let cool completely in the pan.
Coffee Soak
- In a small bowl, whisk together the coffee and the rum. Set aside.
Tiramisu Filling
- In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone until smooth, then beat in 1/2 cup of the sweetener. Add 2 tablespoons of the coffee/rum mixture and beat until well combined.
- In another large bowl, beat the cream with the remaining sweetener and the vanilla extract until it holds stiff peaks.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture until well combined.
To Assemble
- Cut the cake into pieces to fit into the bottom an 8×8 inch pan. Brush with half of the remaining coffee mixutre. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over top.
- Repeat with remaining cake, coffee mixture, and mascarpone mixture. You will have a few bits of cake left over. Discard or use for snacking!
- Dust the top of the tiramisu with cocoa powder and grate the chocolate over top. Refrigerate 2 hours to firm up before cutting.
Video
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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It looks like you used a 9×13 glass dish in the pictures. Is that really an 11×17 inch pan like you called for?
Yup! Trust me, I wouldn’t give a pan size that wasn’t what I used. I remember cutting up the pound cake in this recipe and trying to get it to be enough for my 9×13 and it just wasn’t right. You *might* be able to to do 9×13 if you can cut the pound cake more thinly,though.
This dessert was a huge hit for Thanksgiving, and the high carb pumpkin pie was ignored by the kids who typically don’t like low carb things. But there is no way I could have used an 11×17 pan, (are those actually a thing?), and used an 11×7 instead. That left me with two left over slices and some cream to put together a sample serving to reward the cook without cutting into the pretty tiramisu. Absolutely orgasmic!
Yup, 11×7 is actually a real size! I thought 9×13 was too big and 9×9 too small so I used my 11×7 glass baking pan.
You have a typo in your recipe then, which calls for an 11 x seventeen pan….unless my eyes are totally shot and I am just seeing things!
Oops! Thanks, I just fixed it.
Finally got a chance to make this yesterday and it was amazing! Even though I messed up! My husband’s brother and his wife were in town and arrived 2 hours early so I was quite distracted and forgot to add the cream, even though it was sitting right there on the counter. I noticed right when I turned from putting the completed dessert in the fridge! I’m sure the look on my face was classic, if anyone had been watching. The good news is that it was fantastic anyway so no one noticed. Even my daughter, who is not a fan of my low carb baking, thought it was great.
I used a smaller pan and 12 slices of cake and it worked just fine. I look forward to trying it again, this time with the cream LOL!
Oh, and it was even better today.
So glad it still worked out!
Home made marscapone! I need to be making that right now, THANK YOU, I never realised it was so easy.
Okay, wow. This was incredible! Thank you so much for sharing! I added a little extra coffee (because that is my favorite part), but I was so excited to have a GF baked recipe finally turn out to be scrumptious! I think when I make it in the future, I will bake the pound cake in two layers (like a layer cake for a birthday). I might have done it wrong, but when I sliced up my pound cake to line the pan, it got really crumbly. Just another idea! Thanks again! 😀
Tiramisú has always been my favourite desssert. Thank you so much for helping me bring it back into my life! It was an utter joy being able to taste it again 🙂
Finally got around to making this last week, it helped that the marscapone was on bogo at the market. Made the cake the day before and put it together for dinner on Tuesday. My hubby just about had a spiritual experience when I served it. He said it was fabulous and to put on the regular lists, maybe once a week. I don’t know if I’ll be able to manage it that often, but this is the second of your dessert recipes that have become a favorite with us. (Blueberry Eton Mess is the other)
Thanks for the hard work and keep on baking, cause we love it!
Wonderful! Glad you found the mascarpone on sale like that. It can be pricy!
I’m visiting my mother & brought with me my “GF” baking bag so that I can make delicious LC GF desserts exactly like this one! I somehow have managed to leave my liquid stevia at home. How much more swerve should I substitute for the 20 drops in the butter cake?
Probably about 1/4 cup.
it looks delicious!
This turned out to be one of the best desserts I have ever made!!! ABSOLUTELY loved it, Carolyn! Thank you for creating such wonderful beauties that we can all hog on completely guilt-free! You’re extremely talented. : )
Thank you, Veena! So glad you liked it!!!
Hi there!
Thank you for being so creative with all your recipe ideas. I have such a sweet tooth but being a victim of hypothyroidism, I have the strongest inclination towards weight gain! That’s when all day I dream about food came to my rescue! Haha.. : D
Anyhow, I’m getting started with this recipe. However, it’s my first time working with mascarpone cheese. Could you tell me for how long approximately I’d need to leave the cheese outside the refrigerator to get it to room temperature?
Thank you! : )
A few hours should be sufficient.
I do not use sweeteners. What would be the equivalent amount of sugar to add. Also, I do not do well with whey powder. Can I omit this or do I need to use a substitute?
You can use sugar in the same amounts I used Swerve. You do need some sort of powdered, dry protein to help the cake rise properly and hold its shape. You could use hemp protein or even powdered egg whites.
Guess what I am making for my 4th of July weekend?! 🙂
This is my first comment on a blog ever. I had to comment on this recipe. Low Carb baking is often disappointing (at least for me), but this recipe is absolutely perfect!! Seriously PERFECT! Creamy, rich, moist, just the perfect coffee flavor, not too sweet but it definitely satisfied my sweet tooth. Probably the only cake I’ll eat from now on. Thank you so much Carolyn.
I used truvia baking blend instead of swerve (that’s what I had) and it worked just fine. I used a blendtec to powdered it for the mascarpone mixture.
I made this cake last night and refrigerated over night. I let it warmed up a bit before serving it to allow the cream to soften again :D. Soooo Good!
Thank You!!!
That is just wonderful to hear. I am so happy you liked it!
i am deffanely gonna make this this looks sooooooooooooooooooo good and i am deffanely gonna use the rum
Wow! I’m still basking in the afterglow of the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake and now you post this! Definitely next on the list!
Me, too! My boyfriend and I are still working on that strawberry cheesecake… gotta finish that before we can try another fun dessert! This is on the list, though!
Did someone just put pound cake and tiramisu in the same sentence? Yep, you have my attention! This looks absolutely fantastic, Carolyn!