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 ½ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup Swerve Granular
- 5 large eggs room temperature.
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup whipping cream
- ½ cup water
Butter Glaze:
- 5 tablespoon butter
- ⅓ cup Swerve Granular
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Garnish
- 1 to 2 tablespoon Confectioner's Swerve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a bundt cake pan VERY well and then dust with a few tablespoon 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
Penelope B says
This cake is absolutely delicious!! When I made it last fall, I thought, “I can use this cake for my strawberry shortcake!” That’s what I’m doing this weekend…can’t wait! I’m known for my homemade shortcake so this is a great find now that I’m off of wheat & sugar. Thank you
Sherry Kidd says
Can your Kentucky Butter Cake be frozen?
Carolyn says
Absolutely!
Danielle J says
Do you think it would be ok to add blueberries to the cake?? Love your book 🙂
Carolyn says
Yes, I think that would work. Make sure they’re fresh berries, as frozen ones release a lot of juice and turn the batter blue!
Lenea Shaver says
i am alergic to almonds is there a substitute for the almond flour
Carolyn says
Not in this cake, no.
Kim W says
can i add rum to the cake to make a butter rum cake?
Carolyn says
Of course!
Tami says
I made this today and it was delicious. I baked it in my silicone Bundt pan and it popped right out. Thank you for such good recipes. I just ordered three of your cook books and I can’t wait to get them.
Carolyn says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Melissa in FL says
If I were to bake in a 13x9x2 – would it be the same temp and time?
Carolyn says
No, it will change because the batter will be more spread out. Please just watch it carefully.
Diane says
This cake is fantastically moist! I fear that my husband has started to look at my keto baking attempts as some sort of mad scientist experiments, and I was so happy to her his voice call to me from the kitchen that it was so good, and so moist! This recipe is a keeper for sure.
I’m so happy that your recipe came into my in-box and I just so happened to have all the ingredients waiting for me to put them together. I can’t thank you enough for the detailed directions, and I especially am thankful for the suggestion to double grease the pan. The last time I used my bundt pan, the cake stuck in odd places, it was an ugly mess and haven’t used it since. So I reaaallly appreciate that pro tip! I’m just unsure if the cake can sit, covered, on the counter top or if it should be refrigerated?
JoAnn says
This cake sounds amazing! What size Bundt pan did you use?
Diane K says
I used a 10″ pan and it was perfect.
Mitzi says
I want to make this… I have all of the ingredients except the whey protein powder however I do have unflavored multi collagen protein powder would this work?
Carolyn says
Don’t use collagen… it will make the cake VERY gummy.
Diane says
I need to leave the whey protein out because of Hashimoto’s.
Will it still turn out alright if no protein powder is added?
Carolyn says
It really needs protein powder but you can use egg white too.
Jenny S says
This is my first time leaving a comment on a recipe. This cake was AMAZING. So amazing I want to cry with each bite lol!
I’ve been disappointed with different almond flour cakes, but this is just lovely. So glad I tried this recipe!
Carolyn says
I am so glad!
Susan Yakus says
HI Carolyn, would this cake work for a trifle for Christmas? I need some ideas. TIA!
Sherry says
Carolyn,
I was thinking this would be good as. Pumpkin Kentucky Butter cake. How much Pumpkin purée should I add and would I need to delete some of the other ingredients and of course I would add pumpkin pie spice.
Thank you,
Sherry
Carolyn says
You will need to experiment but reduce the additional liquid.
Mary Wilson-Howard says
I just made this cake and I could not believe how great it turned out. Really very good and easy to make. just downloaded her cookbook to my kindle.
Norma says
Having been low carb over 1.5 years….I can honestly say this is BY FAR the BEST desert I’ve had in all that time!!! Thank YOU FOR SHARING THIS AMAZING RECIPE .
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Susan R says
This cake was absolutely delicious!!! I actually made it with a mixture of lemon extract, orange extract and vanilla extract. Then instead of the butter glaze, I just made a simple glaze with a mixture of sweeteners (Lacanto, Boca Sweet and Besti Monk Fruit/Allulose Blend) and more lemon, orange and vanilla extract. Wow, the glaze soaked into the cake, making it very moist with a lovely lemon/orange flavor and the texture was fantastic! I also used that same mix of sweeteners for the cake because I do not like erythritol alone. My husband and I devoured it!!! This is a cake that I can certainly make for non-keto folks!!
Nixa Viera says
I love it!!!♥️♥️
Margie says
I want to make this so bad but it is so hot here and I hate to use the oven. Would this bake well in an air fryer?
Carolyn says
It’s much too large a cake for an air fryer.
Tammie says
I’m curious if you’ve tried it with allulose? I have yet to use allulose but it seems everyone says it doesn’t have the side effects like cooling or grittiness like other sweeteners. I have bought some and this cake (nonzero version) popped up in my feed & I thought I’d see if you had a version. You never disappoint!
Carolyn says
I do NOT recommend allulose in a cake that takes this long to bake. It browns very quickly and so you will end up with a cake that looks, and possibly tastes, burnt. The whole part that’s up against metal will be very dark.
Dori says
OMG! By far the best keto cake recipe EVER and I’ve tried a lot. I followed the recipe almost exactly (vanilla whey protein is all I had) and it came out beautifully. Tall, dense, with a wonderful crumb just like real pound cake. Cannot rave enough about this recipe. I highly recommend. Thank you so much for Carolyn for sharing! Looking forward to trying your other recipes.