An amazing, tender, and flavorful keto carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is low-carb and easy to make!
The step-by-step baking and decorating instructions for this delicious layered keto carrot cake will ensure that you get perfect results. Aside from tasting amazing, this cake is also a very visually impressive low-carb dessert.
This dessert is gluten-free and grain-free. You may also want to try my Low Carb Carrot Cake Bars.
Why You'll Love This Carrot Cake
If you love carrot cake, then you and I are kindred souls! Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts. I've been making some version of this tender, spiced cake with cream cheese frosting and pecans for as long as I can remember.
Simple Ingredients: If you already do some keto baking, you probably have everything you need to make a keto carrot cake already.
Classic Flavor: Carrot cake is a sweet and spicy specialty, and this cake has all the right flavors in a sugar-free recipe.
Keto Cream Cheese Frosting: We're including a very easy recipe for a sugar-free, keto-friendly cream cheese frosting. You can choose to enjoy your cake with or without the frosting, but I promise it's way better with it! We also use this frosting on our easy keto pumpkin bars.
Easy Layer Cake Instructions: If you want to make a beautifully layered carrot cake like the photos here, I've included step-by-step instructions telling you how to assemble it.
Recipe ingredients
The same wholesome ingredients you'd expect in a traditional carrot cake, with some keto swaps that make this a low-carb treat!
Almond Flour - Use a superfine ground almond flour to get a tender crumb in your finished carrot cake.
Baking Soda - Baking Powder gives rise to your batter and creates lovely pockets of air in your cake.
Salt - Every sweet recipe needs a bit of salt to enhance the other flavors in it.
Cinnamon - Warm spices are the perfect touch.
Ground Nutmeg - Along with cinnamon, ground nutmeg creates the perfect spiced flavor that carrot cake is known for.
Coconut Oil - If your coconut oil is solid, warm it gently to melt it and allow it to cool before mixing it into the cake batter. On a warm day, your coconut oil might already be melted for you!
Granulated Swerve - I really like using Swerve sweeteners in my keto baking recipes. I find that it's an easy swap for regular sugar and I like the flavor of it.
Brown Sugar Swerve - The brown sugar Swerve variety has a richer, deeper flavor. A combination of both white and brown sweeteners is perfect.
Vanilla Extract - I suggest that you use a high-quality, pure vanilla extract. The better your vanilla, the better the flavor will be.
Eggs
Grated Carrots - The more finely you can grate the carrots, the smoother the cake batter will be. Use a box grater, or make grating carrots easy with a food processor.
Pecans - Pecans are a must on my carrot cakes! I love the added crunch inside and on the outside of the cake. You can leave them out if you'd like to make a nut-free cake. You can also use walnuts if you prefer.
Cream Cheese Frosting - To make a keto-approved cream cheese frosting for your cake, you'll need softened cream cheese and butter, plus powdered sweetener, vanilla extract, and heavy whipping cream. The easy frosting recipe is in the recipe card for you.
If you have any questions about this Keto Carrot Cake Recipe, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.
Step by Step Instructions
Start by preheating the oven and greasing two 9 inch cake pans.
- In a medium bowl add the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well and set aside.
- In a large bowl add the melted and cooled coconut oil, sweeteners, vanilla, and eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients in gradually, stirring until well combined.
- Then stir in carrots and nuts. The cake batter will be thick.
- Place half the batter into each of the cake pans. Bake as directed in the recipe card below.
- Let the cakes cool completely and then remove from pans. Keep reading to learn how to stack and add frosting to your keto carrot cake!
These numbered steps match the numbered photos above and are for illustration purposes. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions, please see the printable recipe card below.
For another recipe that uses healthy ingredients, try our easy keto pumpkin bread next.
How to stack and frost a layer cake
You can feel free to enjoy this carrot cake "naked" and skip the frosting, but I don't know that carrot cake will be quite as satisfying without a layer of cream cheese frosting on top!
If you aren't a layer cake decorating pro, don't worry at all. It's simple!
Start with completely cooled cake layers and your prepared cream cheese frosting (the easy keto frosting recipe is in the recipe card below). You can place the frosting in a piping bag, or spread it using an offset spatula.
Put a small amount of frosting on your cake plate, then lay down the first layer cake, dome side down,
Spread about ¼ inch layer of frosting on top of the first cake, then top with the second layer.
Frost the top and sides of your cake now, and then decorate with chopped nuts and carrot curls if desired!
FAQs
CAN I MAKE THIS AS A SHEET CAKE?
If you'd rather not fuss with a layer cake, it is completely acceptable to bake this recipe in a 9x13-inch cake pan instead. The baking time may need to be adjusted a bit for the size of the pan, so check on it a bit early and add extra time if needed.
DO I NEED TO ADD CREAM CHEESE FROSTING?
This carrot cake is delicious with or without the cream cheese frosting, however, I definitely prefer it with! If you aren't a fan of cream cheese frosting, you can make the Keto Buttercream Frosting from this cake instead.
CAN I MAKE CARROT CAKE WITH PRE SHREDDED CARROTS?
While I'm usually all about taking shortcuts, this one is not recommended. Pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store are not shredded finely enough for a carrot cake recipe. Shred them yourself for best results.
Substitutions
As always, I have tested this recipe in a variety of ways, and the recipe I'm sharing with you is the best version of Keto Carrot cake that I came up with! I can't suggest making any substitutions, as you won't get the same result using different ingredients.
If you decide to try swapping or substituting anything, please leave a comment and let me know how it worked.
Storage
This cake will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze to enjoy later! I like to freeze individual slices in small plastic or glass containers in the freezer. They will keep in the freezer for several months. Take a slice out and let it thaw in the fridge overnight before enjoying.
Tips for working with almond flour.
Baking with almond flour is different than baking with wheat flour in a lot of ways, but at the same time, it can give you results that are most similar to traditional flour if used correctly.
These are my best tips for using almond flour in your keto baking recipes.
- If you store your almond flour in the fridge or freezer, allow it to come to room temperature before mixing your batter. Cold almond flour will not absorb the wet ingredients the way we want it to here.
- When measuring almond flour, use a spoon to fill your measuring cup rather than scooping down into the container. This will ensure that you are getting a proper measurement and not compressing the almond flour too much.
- I always suggest using a finely ground almond flour for baking. You'll get much lighter and fluffier baked goods this way.
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📖 Recipe
Keto Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ¼ cup melted and cooled coconut oil
- 1 ¼ cup Swerve granulated
- ¾ cup Swerve brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2.5 cups finely grated carrots
- 1 cup pecans shopped
For the Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½-2 cups powdered sweetener of choice to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 T heavy whipping cream
Garnish
- Whole Pecans layer along sides
- Chopped Pecans sprinkle on top
- Carrot Curls
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease with oil or butter 2 9-inch cake pans. Optionally, use parchment paper on the bottom and grease the sides.
- In a medium bowl add the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well.
- In a large bowl add the melted and cooled coconut oil, sweeteners, vanilla, and eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients in gradually, stirring until well combined. Then stir in carrots and nuts.
- Place half the batter into each of the cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool and then remove from pans.
- For the frosting: In a large bowl add the cream cheese and butter and blend until creamy. Then add in the sweetener and mix until well combined. Finally, add in the vanilla and 1T of heavy whipping cream, mixing until fluffy. Add more heavy cream if you’d like a thinner frosting.
- Spread the frosting between the cake layers and on sides using a spatula. Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Be sure that you allow the cakes to cool completely before stacking and frosting.
- Cake slices can be frozen to enjoy later. Freeze for up to 2 months. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator before enjoying.
- You can bake this cake in a 9 x 13 pan rather than two round cake pans. Adjust the bake time if needed.
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