Easy Lemon Keto Coconut Cake (Almond Flour Recipe) (2024)

This keto coconut cake with lemon zest is incredibly moist and delicious, with only 1.8 grams of net carbs per slice.

It’s covered in a sweet keto cream cheese frosting and only takes 10 minutes to make.

A delicious sugar-free cake made in one mixing bowl.

If you love toasted coconut, you’ll love this low-carb coconut cake recipe. It can even be frozen.

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Baking 101 (tips & charts)

• How to measure butter (5 easy methods)
• Egg conversion charts (and the best egg substitutes)
• Baking pan conversion charts (cake tin conversions)
• Air fryer cheat sheets (temperature charts)
• Kitchen conversion charts (pounds, grams, ounces, cups)
• Should you cook by cups or weight?

Is coconut keto?

Yes, coconut is low in net grams of carbs and high in fiber so is perfect for your low-carb diet or keto diet.

It is versatile because it can be used in sweet and savory recipes, keto cake recipes, keto curry recipes, and keto ice cream recipes to give a rich coconut flavor.

Nutrition of unsweetened shredded coconut per 100g: 7.3 g net carbs, 6.9 g protein, 64.5 g fat, 660 calories.

Nutritional values from cronometer.com

Ingredients

This keto coconut cake is made with the same basic ingredients as any almond flour cake. If you have baking ingredients like baking powder already on-hand then you are ready to make this coconut cake.

See the keto cake recipe card below for quantities, full instructions, and recipe notes.

• Almond flour – Definitely use finely ground flour rather than almond meal so that the cake turns out nice and soft.
• Baking powder – do not get confused with baking soda.
• Coconut flakes – Any kind of unsweetened shredded coconut will work, and toasted coconut will have a richer flavor.
• Granulated Sweetener – the most popular sugar replacements for your sweet tooth are erythritol, monk fruit, stevia, and allulose. Other sugar alcohols such as xylitol are also used often in keto recipes. All have zero or low net carbs and will not impact blood sugar.
• Psyllium Husk
• Butter – Use salted butter, or unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt.
• Eggs – fresh eggs
• Lemons – You will use the juice and zest from two lemons.

Lemon Cream Cheese Yoghurt Icing

To make coconut frosting, see the variations below.

• Cream Cheese – Use full-fat cream cheese and soften it first.
• Unsweetened Yoghurt – Make sure it is unflavored and unsweetened
• Lemon Zest
• Powdered sweetener – powdered erythritol makes for a fine and smooth creamy frosting rather than using granulated sweetener.

Instructions

This keto coconut cake is a very simple recipe.

Start out by mixing the dry ingredients together – ground almonds, coconut, baking powder, sweetener, and psyllium husk in a mixing bowl.

Then, add the wet ingredients – melted butter into the middle of the dry ingredients and mix them together gently. Add the eggs and keep mixing.

Add the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Line the baking tin with baking parchment paper to ensure it lifts out easily.

Pour the coconut cake batter into the greased and lined ring pan.

Keep baking the gluten-free coconut cake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool the cake pan completely on a cooling rack before you add the creamy buttercream frosting.

Storage

Your keto coconut cake can be stored with or without the coconut frosting.

You can store a whole cake or individual slices.

Store leftover cake in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator.

Leftover slices of frosted cake will stay fresh for about 5 days. Remember to keep it covered so that the moist keto coconut cake does not dry out.

Store individual slices of cake in an airtight container or a ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Remove one slice of cake as you need it, and leave it covered on the kitchen bench at room temperature for 2 hours.

Serving

You can serve your keto coconut cake in so many ways.

1. Sweetened whipped cream – whip heavy cream and sweetener together until stiff peaks form.
2. Lemon yogurt frosting – see the recipe card below.
3. Vanilla cream cheese frosting – the versatile keto cream cheese frosting can be made in 7 flavors.
4. Sugar-free coconut frosting – add coconut stevia drops or coconut extract to your frosting instead of vanilla extract.
5. Toasted coconut – sprinkle over your frosting around the edges for an extra hit of coconut flavor.
6. Whipped coconut cream –

Substitutions

There are a few different ingredients that you can use in this keto coconut cake recipe. Always use low-carb ingredients when you bake on the keto diet.

• Butter – Use the same amount of coconut oil or ghee.
• Eggs – Replace one egg with one tablespoon of flax seeds mixed into three tablespoons of water.
• Baking Powder – Use 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda to replace 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

The above substitutions are great alternatives that will keep your low-carb coconut cake gluten-free and keto-friendly.

Variations

There are a few different ways you can make this keto coconut cake recipe.

• Less coconut flavor – Leave the toasted coconut flakes out.
• Add more coconut flavor – If you want this sugar-free coconut cake to taste even more like coconut, add some coconut extract. This idea is perfect for coconut lovers.
• Make it dairy-free – Instead of butter, use ghee or melted coconut oil.
• Try vanilla frosting – vanilla extract instead of lemon zest.
• Try coconut frosting – Make your favorite keto buttercream frosting and mix in some toasted coconut flakes.
• Whipped cream frosting – Top the keto cake with whipped cream frosting that you flavor with vanilla extract.
• Skip the frosting altogether – You can skip the frosting completely and just dust the cake with some powdered sweetener.

Equipment

To make this keto coconut cake, I used a ring tin, or a cake pan with a hollow middle. Some people call this a bundt pan.

To prevent the cake batter from sticking, I suggest lining your cake pan with baking parchment paper.

Since you need to mix the ingredients gently, use a wooden spoon to mix the batter of this delicious cake.

To make the frosting for this keto cake, use a stand mixer or an electric mixer of some kind.

FAQs

Here are some questions people often ask about how to make keto coconut cake. If you don’t see your question in this list, please leave it in the comments.

More keto desserts

These keto cakes are all sugar-free and gluten-free. If you want coconut flour recipes, you can search the coconut flour recipe index here.

• Flourless keto chocolate fudge cake
• Vanilla raspberry 1-minute mug cake (coconut flour cake in a mug)
• Berry keto sponge cake (coconut flour cake)
• Sugar-free keto lemon bars (keto lemon cake)
• Keto lemon cupcakes