Kentucky butter cake is a moist and buttery pound cake with a sweet butter sauce that soaks through the cake. This indulgent keto kentucky butter cake is going to blow your mind! It’s easily one of the best low carb cake recipes I have ever made.
Sometimes, size matters and sometimes, bigger is better. I know many of you are enjoying my mini low carb cakes and keto desserts for two, but that’s not where we are going today, my friends. Oh no, today, we are going big, bold, and beautiful. And we are heading down into the heart of Dixie and taking inspiration from our beloved Southern friends, who do big, bold and beautiful better than the rest of the world. Take, for example, the beloved Kentucky Butter Cake.
I mean, people in the south know how to use butter in a big, BIG way. And anyone who can liberally throw huge amounts of butter in a cake and then drizzle that cake with butter sauce has my respect.
I am pretty certain that I’ve never been to Kentucky. I have a decent sense of US geography but some of those states down in the southeast corner of the country confuse me so I might not even be able to place it on a map. Sorry, Kentuckians, but it’s true and I wager that many of you wouldn’t be able to place the Canadian provinces, so there!
But I have plenty of respect for you because hey, you created bourbon, you’re pretty awesome when it comes to horse races, and you know how to knock it out of the park when you make pound cake.
I confess I’d never heard of Kentucky Butter Cake until I saw this glorious salted caramel version from Wishes and Dishes. Quite literally, I sat there with my jaw hanging open and there is a slight chance that I may have drooled a little. I instantly knew I had to make a low carb Kentucky Butter Cake recipe.
How To Make Kentucky Butter Cake
Creating a low carb recipe for Kentucky Butter Cake needed some careful thought, since low carb ingredients don’t behave the same way as flour and sugar.
Butter: You need ridiculous amounts of it. Well, of course you do, it’s a butter cake after all. You need a full cup of butter for the cake itself and even more butter for the glaze. Please don’t ask me how to make this recipe dairy free. It’s a butter cake.
Almond Flour: This is where the keto version of Kentucky Butter Cake differs from the original. Now this presents a bit of an issue with all that butter, because almond flour already contains much more fat and moisture than wheat flour. Which means it could be too soft and too moist.
Coconut Flour: To offset the moisture content of the almond flour, I also added some coconut flour. It’s incredibly absorbent and helps soak up all the moisture and give the cake some structure.
Protein Powder: Yes, you need it. It doesn’t have to be whey protein, it can also be egg white protein. But you need it. Because gluten is a protein and since this cake is entirely gluten free, adding in a dry protein powder helps the cake rise and hold its shape.
Room Temperature Ingredients: This goes for almost all keto cakes, but it’s really important to have your butter properly softened and your eggs at room temperature. For the butter, you should be able to easily press a finger into it and leave a dent, but not have it squish all over. And if you add cold eggs to that, it’s just going to clump up all over again. So make sure you leave them out for at least 30 minutes before using.
Grease It Good: This cake is so tender, it has a tendency to stick in the pan. Do yourself a favour and grease that pan really well. Not once, but twice. I like to grease once with butter and once with coconut oil spray. Then I like to dust lightly with almond flour. Be sure not to use a pan with deep crevices, where the cake is more likely to stick. And try to use a very good non-stick pan.
The Glaze: Glaze may not be something of a misnomer, since you aren’t glazing the top of the cake. Rather you are poking the cake with holes and allowing this amazing buttery syrup to soak into it. So good! Feel free to make some of the best low carb caramel sauce to drizzle over yours, if you prefer.
Everyone loves my Keto Kentucky Butter Cake
Ever since I first published this recipe, it’s been a beloved favorite among my readers. You don’t have to look much further than the comments to see that.
There are also a lot of copycat recipes out there now. I’ve even had people take this full recipe and pretend that they created it themselves! Yep, one woman on YouTube made a video and took full credit for my recipe. And a lot of other low carb bloggers have now copied it, changing just one or two little things and giving me no credit whatsoever. That’s unfortunately the way things seem to be these days. I might be old school but I believe in giving credit to my inspiration.
So make no mistake, my friends, this is the original low carb Kentucky Butter Cake recipe. And I feel confident that it will stand the test of time!
Check out all my best Keto Desserts here!
Keto Kentucky Butter Cake Recipe
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) Swerve Granular
- 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) Swerve Granular
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Garnish
- 1 to 2 tbsp Confectioner's Swerve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. 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 cake is firm to the touch. A tester inserted in the center should come out clean.
- 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
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Hi Carolyn, thank you for this recipe! It works and turns out very well each time I bake it. I omit out the glaze but add about 20g butter to the recipe and the cake is still moist and delicious ????
Oh baby, oh baby! I wish I could post a photo as this turned out gorgeous. I stuck to your recipe. Lucky for me I live alone and my cat’s not one for sweets. I’ve had a generous slice every night for the last week. This cake tastes better now than it did the first day or two. Thanks for all your hard work on research & development to the benefit of the rest of us!
I absolutely love this cake, but was wondering if I could use Bocha Sweet instead of erythritol in the butter sauce, so it doesn’t crystallize when it’s cooled? Would that work?
I’d probably do half Swerve, half BochaSweet, otherwise it may end up too runny.
AFTER A YEAR ON KETO AND BAKING MY FAIR SHARE OF DISAPPOINTING CAKES, I DECIDED TO GIVE IT ONE MORE TRY AND BUY A TIN OF PROTEIN POWDER AND MAKE THIS KENTUCKY BUTTER CAKE. AM I GLAD THAT I DID. THE TEXTURE WAS SUCH THAT I WOULD FREELY SERVE IT TO A NON-KETO WITHOUT APOLOGIES. OF COURSE, I COULDN’T RESIST SUBBING BOURBON FOR WATER IN THE SOAK. OH MY! WONDERFUL. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SO MUCH OBVIOUS EFFORT AND TALENT INTO YOUR KETO BAKING. I HOPE THAT YOUR HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN MANY WAYS.
Thanks, Angela!
Wow! I’m test tasting for the holidays and this one made the cut! I paired it with your peach ice cream 🙂 I also used spiced rum as another viewer mentioned and it was great! I couldn’t really taste the rum but I could feel it on my tongue. I’m going to try some of the other variations people have mentioned. This is a winner! You did an awesome job Carolyn!
Your Kentucky butter cake is my all time favorite special occasion cake, Anyone I’ve served it to, requests a slice to take home with them. I live on dirt road, with 7 homes. Four of them inhabited by frail elders, who have become very isolated since Covid-19 made it’s ugly presence known I started baking a weekly treat in April, when they started getting depressed. Since that time, this amazing cake has been requested over & over again. (Not that everybody didn’t love the rhubarb coffee cake, or your lemon bars!) This is the cake that dreams are made of. Thank you for giving me all of my favorite keto recipes, through the years. I will be baking this elegant & delicious cake next week for my son’s 10 person wedding at he & his sweethearts request.
Just made this today, but subbed the water for rum as recommended by someone else on IG and added pecans to the bottom. It was PERFECT! Cake was super moist!! I took mine out at 50 min and probably could have taken it out at 45, but it was still GOOD! I def want to try make this again, but w/out the rum. Thank you so much Carolyn!!!
I am dairy-free but do use grass-fed butter for baking. I have been using a dairy-free, plant-based protein powder as a meal supplement/replacement. Can I use this rather than the protein powder listed in the recipe? I have seen protein powder listed ibn a number of recipes and am hoping I can use my product as I know it meets the dietary framework I use. Thank You.
I honestly have no idea since I don’t use it. You will simply need to try.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s not often I crave a dessert; I’m more of a salty, crunchy person. However, every now and then a slice of butter cake is just what is needed. Everyone who has eaten the cake said it was delicious. Now, to ask a favor. My most favorite cake is the original Hummingbird Cake from Southern Living. Yes, the one and only from 1978. Accept no substitutes! lol It has been so long since I enjoyed my favorite birthday cake… What are the chances Hummingbird could be converted to keto?
This cake was so delicious! I did make a few alterations though. I subbed 1/2 c almond flour for 1/4 c oat fiber and 1/4 c soy flour. I also used sour cream in lieu of heavy cream and rather than make the glaze I pourers sugar free English toffee syrup in the cake. Although, I made some changes the basis of the cake is yours and I’m so glad that you decided to create the recipe. We often find keto cakes to be too wet which is why I made the changes. You are awesome. This is the best keto cake I’ve had thus far. I’m going to look through your archives for a birthday cake recipe.
I was told the original recipes call for bourbon. How can I ad it to your recipe?
I guess just in the glaze.
Help! What happened??? Everything was going great until I got to the butter glaze. I heated the butter and granular Swerve on low heat, stirring until smooth, and THEN it sort of began to separate. The sweetener got all grainy again and started to clump together in the bottom of the pan. Then the clear butter fat came to the top. I went ahead and added the vanilla and water and whisked it until it seemed smooth again, poured it over the cake and found a lot of sweetener still on the bottom of the pan. What did I do wrong?
It got too hot. Either your heat was too high or your pan is low quality and lets too much heat through.
I suspected as much. I kept the heat on low, but I’ll keep a better eye on it next time! It was delicious, nonetheless! Thank you for all of your great recipes!
I only have mini silicone bundt cake pans. Will that work? Do I still need to grease them?
Yes, please still grease them. I am honestly not sure how this will turn out in silicone but it should still be tasty.
OMG these were Devine (my 9 year old daughter’s word)…made 12 mini Bundt cakes even better the day after Excellent recipe thanks so much
What a delightful and decadent cake! I made one slight tweak in that I replaced vanilla in batter and glaze with bourbon! I also brushed a wee bit more on the finished and glazed cake. Loved it and so does everyone that has tried it!
Est-il possible de mettre moins de beurre
Le gâteau est bon mais très gras au toucher.
Merci
J’aime beaucoup vos recettes
It’s a butter cake. So I suppose you can do less butter but it kind of defeats the purpose! 🙂
It took me 3 years, but I FINALLY made this cake. It was delicious and by following your tips, the cake did NOT stick. Thank you very much.
if i half the recipe, how’s the temperature and time will be?
The temperature would be the same. The time… I honestly cannot say. I don’t even know what kind of pan you are using. You will need to simply watch it closely.
This was absolutely delicious!!! My husband and mom who are both non keto loved it too!! It’s going into my normal rotation. Thank you!
Happy to hear it!
Have you tried making this with only coconut flour? My son has a severe allergy to almonds.
Sorry no, this wouldn’t work with coconut flour only. However, I have plenty of other great coconut flour recipes. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/low-carb-coconut-flour-recipes/
I just made this cake but forgot to use the whey protein in it.
I hope it turns out OK ?
I really can’t say…
Hi Corolyn, Even though I forgot to add in the whey protein the cake turned out FANTASTIC! My husband told me its a definate keeper !! I’m making it again today but I will not forget to add in the whey protein. I’m bringing it into the office tomorrow for the girls to try 🙂
Thanks for this tasty treat !!
Leesa