A lemon-scented low carb, grain-free layer cake with the most delicious strawberry cream cheese frosting. This sugar-free creation will win over your harshest critics.
Strawberry season is drawing closer and closer and I am so excited I can taste it. I can taste those sweet berries in my mind, freshly picked out of a sun-warmed New England field. I can smell the straw they put down around the beds, and hear the high-pitched lisping of little ones clamouring “I found one, Mummy. I found a big one!”. My own children come out of those fields weighing significantly more than they went into them, and I probably do too. Those pick-your-own strawberry farms must add a premium to the price per pound, knowing that people will eat their weight in berries before they ever fill up their green quart baskets. It’s hard to resist, there is nothing like a strawberry freshly picked and popped into one’s mouth.
But we still have a few months to go and until then, I suffer through the big, less flavourful store bought berries. I don’t actually buy fresh berries in the off-season much, because they just don’t live up to that dreamy berry flavour in my mind. We do usually keep a big wholesale-club sized bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer because my husband is a smoothie man. The man loves his smoothies and his “strawbs”, as we call them. So if I am inclined to make a strawberry recipe in the middle of winter, I am likely to skip the fresh and grab a few of the frozen kind. And I was very much inclined to make this recipe. In fact, from the moment I saw it, I knew I had to make it.
This, my friends, is my healthy low carb take on a gorgeous Strawberry Lemonade Cake I saw on the cover of Southern Living while visiting my parents in Florida. I hadn’t even opened the magazine to look at the details, I just held it up to my husband and said “I am going to make this”. His response: “No arguments from me!”. And I knew just exactly how I would make it too. I did actually refer to the article to see how the frosting was made. As I had hoped, it was cream cheese-based so I knew I could easily replicate it in low carb form. And let me tell you, it’s the frosting that made the cake, without question. The cake itself was good, but the frosting was absolutely divine. It wasn’t overly sweet and the lemon juice and zest gave it the perfect tang. I could have easily eaten a bowl of the frosting all by itself.
Low Carb Strawberry Lemonade Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/3 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener, divided
- 1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped, juices reserved
- OR 1 & 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped fine
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease three 9-inch cake pans well (line bottoms with parchment if you are worried about it sticking). You can also use 8-inch pans but your cakes will need to bake longer.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, whey protein, and baking powder.
- In another large bowl, beat butter until smooth. Beat in granulated sweetener, lemon zest, and lemon extract until well combined.
- Beat in eggs, then half of almond flour mixture. Then beat in almond milk. Finally beat in remaining almond flour mixture.
- Divide batter between prepared baking pans and smooth the top with a knife or offset spatula. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
- Remove from oven and let cool in pan at least 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/3 cup of the powdered sweetener until smooth. Beat in strawberries, lemon juice and lemon zest until combined.
- In another large bowl, beat whipping cream with remaining sweetener until stiff peaks form. Fold carefully into cream cheese until combined.
- To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving platter and spread top with about 1/4 of the frosting. Repeat with second and third layers, and then spread remaining frosting over sides of cake.
- Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
Nutrition
Cook’s Notes: Now, I will say that I recently bought some beautiful new round baking pans from USA Pans. They are amazingly non-stick but they are also 9 inches, instead of the old 8-inch pans I used to have. So my layers turned out lower and wider than I originally anticipated. In fact, I first only made enough batter for 2 layers and since I was bringing this to Easter brunch at some friends’ house, I felt it wouldn’t be enough. So I quickly whipped up batter for a 3rd layer. You could do this in 8-inch pans as well, but expect taller layers and longer baking time.
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.
Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Could I use coconut cream instead of regular whipping cream in the frosting? Want to make for my birthday, but I am also dairy free. Can get by with a little cream cheese.
Yes, I think you could. And Kite Hill makes a delightful almond milk cream cheese!
Ok this is the second recipe that I have commented on in all of internet land. I just had to say something about this cake. It is amazeballs. Like absolutely freaking delish! I made it for my birthday because I wanted some damn cake like normal people but didnt want to break my diet. This cake was moist and I couldn’t even tell it was grain free. The icing was light and fluffy and so sweet. Just perfection. Since its my birthday week and I can do what I want, I had a slice everyday for breakfast because life is too short to wait to have it after dinner. No regrets! Best cake ever!
Ps. All my friends loved it.
I love comments like this and I am so flattered you took the time to write it!
How many cupcakes would this recipe make?
Not positive but at least 12.
Making this tonight for the second time in two weeks!! It was such a hit at my sisters bridal shower she requested it for her friend bridal shower tomorrow. It is one of the tastiest cakes I’ve ever had.
Wonderful!
Carolyn, thanks so much for this recipe. This cake turned out fabulously! I think this would be an excellent blank canvas cake that can easily be adapted with other flavours. With 8 inch pans, it really wasn’t necessary to add a third layer, so I’ve got a spare cake to boot!
I made this for dessert on Easter, so good! The family liked it as well. The only thing I would do differently would be to make a double batch of frosting, so good! Thank you for sharing this with all of us! 🙂
I made this cake for Easter. Neither the cake nor the icing were sweet. 🙁 I followed the recipe faithfully, except I did not add the strawberries. We threw the cake out.
Made this for Easter. I reduced the recipe to 2/3 to fit a 9″x13″ pan. Baked at 325ºF for 22 minutes in my oven. I made the full amount of frosting, but had about a cup or so left over 😀 Absolutely delicious…and my grain and sugar eating relatives all loved it with many going back for seconds.
So glad!
Recipe looks so yummy. Your site is my go to always for desserts. Question on frosting, can I make this the day before and does this frosting freeze well?
Thank you for making this a printable recipe.
woukd it be okay if I used vanilla protein powder?
Yes but it will definitely have more vanilla flavour…you may need to up the lemon in the cake to get it to stand out a bit more.
Looks like I’m going to have to try this one out. I’m not into chocolate and love love love lemon… thanks for the recipe.
Can this be made with all Almond Flour? What would the amount of Almound Flour be? Thank you.
Made this for my 2-year-old’s birthday! Everyone loved it! I used fresh strawberries and my frosting didn’t get quite as pink and lovely as yours (frozen, thawed strawberries still have more juice in them, I think), but it was still delicious! YUMMMM.
So glad! What a great 2nd birthday cake!
Hello Carolyn!! I have a problem….this doesn’t really concern a certain recipe, but some of my cake recipes, no matter if mine or someone else’s that I’m making, sometimes have an off taste. Almost bitter. The best way I know to describe it is that it has a “green” taste. I know that don’t make a lot of sense. Green is a color, not a taste. Its just an odd taste and odor. I’ve tried narrowing it down to one certain ingredient by making small batches and leaving out different ones, but still can’t pin point it. Would flavoring that contains alcohol cause this? Do any of you other ladies have this problem?
Hmmm. It could be anything, that’s the problem. It could even be the almond flour. Do you know if you experience this with regular almonds? What brands of sweeteners are you using?
I use Erythritol and sometimes splenda, which ever I have on hand at the time. I have experienced this with Bob’s red Mill Almond flour and Nuts.com as well as slivered almonds that I grind myself. Its not everytime, but more often than I want to have happen. I know that old baking powder or baking soda can make it taste like rotten eggs, but this is a total different taste. I even bought new baking powder for this particular cake to make sure that didn’t happen, as it was for my daughter’s birthday. If you let the cake sit overnight, I’ve noticed the taste will become less noticeable, but still there.
Strange! Could be the erythritol, some people are very sensitive to it and detect an aftertaste.
Do you have any cookbooks?