An easy recipe for moist, fluffy, and flavorful keto gingerbread. It's ready in less than an hour, and this includes the time it needs to cool.
Despite containing no molasses or brown sugar, it tastes just like the real thing, and the leftovers are excellent too.
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 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! This cake is wonderful.
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Ingredients
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: You can use heavy cream instead of 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 replace it with a sugar-free granulated sweetener, possibly adding 1-2 tablespoons of milk.
Aromatics and spices: Ground cinnamon, minced fresh ginger, and unsweetened cocoa powder. I also add a bit of salt.
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: Helps the cake rise and ensures it's nice and fluffy.
Instructions
Making this keto gingerbread is easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
- Your first step is to simply mix together all the ingredients in one bowl. Make sure the batter is smooth.
- Then, pour the batter into a greased square 8-inch pan.
- The last step is to bake the cake in a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes.
Expert tip
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 useful because I don't use brown sugar or molasses.
Frequently asked questions
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.
No, unfortunately, you cannot. These two flours behave very differently and are not interchangeable in baked goods.
A tablespoon of molasses contains around 15 grams of carbs. Whether this fits within your low-carb diet is up to you to decide. I find that this cake is marvelous even without a drop of molasses.
Variations
I love this recipe as is and almost always make it as written. But in case you'd like to vary the basic recipe, here are a few ideas for you:
- You can use a granulated sweetener instead of stevia. If the batter seems too thick, add an extra tablespoon of milk.
- Add a pinch of cloves and/or nutmeg.
- Frost the cake with this keto cream cheese frosting.
Serving suggestions
This simple cake is perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert. It's wonderful all by itself, but if you serve it for dessert, you can add this cream cheese frosting or this keto whipped cream.
Storing leftovers
Once completely cool, I wrap the cake in cling wrap, then in a layer of foil, and store it in the fridge. It keeps well for 4-5 days when kept this way.
You can also wrap it as mentioned above and freeze it, or you could 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 tasty leftovers!
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Recipe card
Keto Gingerbread
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 or ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 1½ cups blanched finely ground almond flour (6 oz - it's best to measure by weight)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda*
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the 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, gingerm, and kosher salt.
- Whisk in the almond flour, then the baking soda.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then cut it into nine squares and serve.
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NOTES
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NUTRITION PER SERVING
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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. 