You know, just because you’re not eating sugar doesn’t mean you can’t have a great birthday cake. This sugar-free birthday cake is moist, has a really nice crumb and bakes up like a professional cake!
What does that mean? Well, it means that it bakes up perfectly flat, with perfect edges.
This cake is so easy to work with when it’s cooled. Stack it, fill it, decorate it, it works incredibly well and keeps its shape without being heavy and dense. It really is a nice cake to make for any occasion. I even had a reader that made this recipe as a wedding cake for a friend!
Who wants a sugar-free cake? I Do! I do!
If you’re focused on a sugar-free, low carb, or gluten-free diet, things like this sugar-free birthday cake are hard to find and come by. This is unless of course, you live in a major city where you can find a bakery that specializes. Not where I am!
This from-scratch recipe isn’t at all difficult and can be frozen in advance. Yup, you read that right, bake up a few layers, toss them in the freezer and pull them out when you are ready to work with them. Win-win-win.
Just a quick note, when the ingredients are mixed together, the batter will feel a bit thick. This is perfectly fine. The cakes still bake up quite moist and tender.
For more tips on low carb baking, check out my guides, How to Bake with Almond Flour, and tips on how to make the best sugar free desserts.
A Sugar-free icing replacement, better than the real thing.
You can ice this cake any way you want, it’s not too sweet, so a fruit filling would be welcome. You could also make a keto pastry cream to fill between the layers if you prefer less icing.
I used a simple cream cheese buttercream that I think is just the best thing ever. That’s a bold statement, but this “icing” is super creamy and a perfect combination to go with this vanilla birthday cake.
The icing is more like a stabilized whipped cream. It’s thick, spreadable, and you can use it in a piping bag with tips, but it does not have that cloyingly sweet taste that regular icing has.
You can, however, make it as sweet as you want to.
FROSTING TIPS AND TRICKS TO GET IT PERFECT THE FIRST TIME
Also make sure to grab whipping cream, not coffee cream.
I like to use a 36% fat whipping cream for this recipe, but if you cannot get your hands on 36% whipping cream, any cream that you can whip will be perfectly fine.
Keep all the ingredients for your icing cold cold cold, you want your cream cheese to come out of a cold fridge and go directly into the bowl. Cube your cream cheese first to make it easier on your mixer.
The frosting gets a bit stiff in the fridge but has a very similar mouthfeel to buttercream without an overly sweet bite.
I only add 1/2 cup of sweetener which makes for a slightly sweet frosting, if you want it punchier and super sweeter, add more sweetener!
Be careful to not overbeat your mixture. Overbeating will cause everything to liquify.
This frosting works great for decorating cakes or even cupcakes. You can see how well it pipes by check out my low carb roasted strawberry cupcakes.
WHAT TYPE OF SWEETENER IS BEST?
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Use your favorite 1:1 sugar substitute.
In the frosting, you will need to use powdered, or else your creamy frosting will be quite grainy and unpleasant. For the cake batter powered is preferred over granular.
If you don’t have powdered erythritol or xylitol and only have granular, go ahead and give it a blast with a high-speed blender, or food processor. My favorite powdered sweetener by far is So Nourished Monk Fruit Blend, I find it has almost no aftertaste at all.
Swerve and stevia will work perfectly fine here as well as does any powdered erythritol or xylitol.
Just remember, xylitol is poisonous to dogs and cats, so if that’s your choice and you have little furry friends running around, it can be deadly to them.
Let’s not forget about the sprinkles!
Sprinkles are the topping here, and no worries because they are also completely sugar-free.
If you’re interested in making your own low carb homemade sprinkles, I have the recipe for you. The best part about making your own is you can customize them to be any colour you want.
They do take a bit of time to dry so if you decide to make this sugar-free birthday cake with the sprinkles, make the sprinkles a day or two ahead of time.
Unlike sugar made sprinkles, these sprinkles are a bit more fragile and tend to melt a bit quickly. If you add them to ice cream, or on top of wet whip cream some of them will melt.
My cake required two coats of sprinkles because the first set melted, but it worked out very well because the outside icing ended up having that sweet icing taste, with a tiny bit of crunch.
The sprinkles held up like champs after that second coating, this photo was taken a few hours after I finished the second coat.
Sugar-Free Birthday Cake REcipe
This cake is rich and decadent. I wouldn’t call it healthy, but I wouldn’t say no to a piece either if someone offered it to me. Everything in moderation right?
I honestly believe a healthy diet should make room for celebration desserts. Just because you’re watching your carbs, or sugar, or have a gluten restriction doesn’t mean you have to miss out.
You can actually have your cake and eat it too, although if you ate the cake you wouldn’t have it anymore… (Oh now I get it! Ha…..)
Well, I guess that just means you need to bake another one.
Invite me over, I’ll bring the coffee!
Looking for More Keto and Diabetic Cake Recipes?
Can you tell I like cake? Check out these other low carb cake recipes for more cakey-goodness!
- Low Carb Chocolate Bundt Cake (With Cream Cheese Filling!)
- Blackberry Cheesecake with Ginger Cinnamon Crust
- Gluten Free Black Forest Chocolate Cake
- Sugar-Free Salted Caramel Cheesecake
- Cute Little Keto English Madeline Cakes
Make A Sugar-Free Birthday Cake Everyone Will Love
A moist and delicious low carb birthday cake complete with creamy icing and sprinkles! This cake is sugar-free, gluten-free and keto-friendly.
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3/4 cup erythritol (powdered)
- 3/4 cup butter
- 6 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp Xanthan gum powder
- 1 TBS vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/4 cup erythritol (powdered)
- 1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese
Instructions
Cake Batter
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cake pans by well greasing.
- Add eggs to a mixing bowl and mix on high for 2 minutes.
- Melt the butter in the microwave, but do not overheat. We want the butter soft, but not too hot.
- Add 1 Tbsp vanilla, almond milk, melted butter, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar to egg mixture and blend until well incorporated.
- Sift almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, Xanthan gum, salt, and 3/4 cup powdered erythritol in a large bowl.
- Gently add the egg mixture to the dry ingredient mixture. Do not over mix.
- Divide batter between two 9 inch cake rounds ( or three 6 inch cake round).
- Bake in a 350F oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool on a cooling rack for about an hour before adding frosting
Whipped Cream Frosting
- Cube one cup of cold full fat cream cheese and add it to the bowl of a stand mixer and blend for 1 minute, until the cream cheese has no lumps. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Add 1 tsp vanilla and powdered erythritol.
- Add 1/2 cup of full-fat whipping cream to the bowl and mix on low for 30 seconds, until blended with cream cheese. Turn up to medium and then high until the whipped cream and cream cheese fluff up and resemble buttercream frosting.
- Do not overbeat. Over beating will cause the mixture to liquefy.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 386Total Fat: 34gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 159mgSodium: 281mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 11g