An easy recipe for moist, fluffy and flavorful keto gingerbread cake. Despite containing no molasses or brown sugar, it tastes just like the real thing!
My Dutch grandma used to bake an amazing Ontbijtkoek - a Dutch breakfast cake, heavily spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
This delightful keto gingerbread cake reminds me of grandma's wonderful cake. It's fluffy, moist, and very flavorful. When I embarked on making a low carb version, I had my suspicions. I assumed that it would be very difficult to recreate the traditional flavor without molasses. As it turns out, it's actually very doable!
The ingredients you'll need
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this tasty cake. The exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
Eggs: I use large eggs in almost all of my recipes, this one included.
Whole milk: If you're on the keto diet and very strict about it, you can use heavy cream instead of the milk. But as you can see, even with the milk, this cake is very low in carbs.
Unsalted butter: I love using creamy European butter, but any butter will be great.
Sweetener: I use stevia glycerite. You can probably replace it with a sugar-free granulated sweetener.
Aromatics and spices: Ground cinnamon, minced fresh ginger, and unsweetened cocoa powder. I also add a bit of salt. Do make sure the spices you use are fresh. A stale spice can easily ruin a dish (speaking from experience).
Almond flour: This flour substitute bakes exceptionally well. I use blanched finely ground flour. I don't recommend using a coarse almond meal in this recipe.
Baking soda: It should keep for a long time, but it’s still a good idea to check the date and make sure it hasn’t expired.
How to make keto gingerbread cake
It's easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
1. Your first step is to simply mix together all the ingredients in one bowl. Make sure the batter is smooth.
2. Then you pour the batter into a greased square 8-inch pan.
3. The last step is to bake the cake in a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes.
I based this recipe on my trusted almond flour cake recipe. I omitted the honey, replacing it with stevia, milk, and butter. And I added spices - cinnamon and ginger.
Why I add a bit of cocoa powder to the batter
This might be somewhat unusual, but I like to add just a tablespoon of cocoa powder to this cake. This accomplishes two important goals:
1. The acidic cocoa powder helps to activate the baking soda. This is why you should use natural cocoa powder, not one that says it was processed with alkali.
2. The cocoa powder gives the cake a deeper color. This is especially useful because I don't use brown sugar or molasses.
How to store keto gingerbread cake
Once completely cool, store it in the fridge, in a sealed container, for up to 5 days. You can also freeze individual slices in freezer bags. This is one of those cakes that keeps really well when stored, so sometimes I bake two of them to ensure I have yummy leftovers!
More tasty holiday recipes
Another wonderful cake for this time of year is this delicious keto fruit cake. Yes, it's very good! And this dark chocolate bark is delicious and makes an impressive hostess gift.
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Keto Gingerbread Cake
INGREDIENTS
- ½ tablespoon unsalted butter for pan
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1.5 teaspoons stevia glycerite (equals ½ cup sugar)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, natural, unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1½ cups blanched finely ground almond flour (6 oz - it's best to measure by weight)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a glass 8X8-inch baking dish with butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, stevia, cinnamon, cocoa powder, ginger and kosher salt.
- Whisk in the almond flour, then the baking soda.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until puffed and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then cut into nine squares and serve.
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 