This moist keto orange cake is made with almond flour and whole oranges - skins and all. It is low carb, gluten-free, dairy-free and sweetened with stevia.
I am totally in love with this flourless almond and orange cake!
Traditional orange cakes are normally very high in carbs, because they contain a lot of sugars due to the high fructose content. There's the table sugar, the sugar in the orange juice and of course, the sugars from the starch in the wheat flour.
The cool thing about this cake is that contains ALL of the orange, flesh and skin. You simply cook your oranges in water for 1 hour until they are nice and soft. This also makes the skin taste less bitter. Then you puree the whole orange until you have a fragrant, tasty pulp. You are literally using all of the fibre an orange has to offer, which slows the absorption of the sugar in the fruit. And you get all the taste.
On top of that, this is an almond flour orange cake. So, instead of wheat, we're using almond flour.
With my recipe, you can enjoy a slice of keto orange cake that will keep you on plan at only 3.5g net carbs per slice.
I have made a keto banana bread that won't kick you out of ketosis - with REAL banana. The same goes for thissugar free" orange cake!
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Fluffy, light texture
- Fragrant orange flavor
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
- Low carb and keto-friendly
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
- Almond flour - I used ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour. For super-fine almond flour, reduce by 25 grams or ¼ cup.
- Oranges - unwaxed, washed. Juicing oranges are ideal. See more details below.
- Eggs - should be room temperature.
- Baking powder
- Orange extract
- Vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract
- Cardamom
- Vanilla stevia - or your sugar substitute of choice. I have used only 16 drops of liquid vanilla stevia in this recipe. This amount is equivalent to 4 teaspoons of sugar. If you don't have stevia, you can use xylitol or erythritol instead. Increase the sweetness to your liking.
Which Oranges To Choose
Oranges differ greatly, depending on variety and time of year. Some are very sweet, some less so. Some have thick skins, some have thin ones. That's why you should always taste the batter and adjust the sweetness if needed.
My oranges were VERY sweet and had a surprisingly thin skin. A thick-skinned orange will result in a more bitter batter.
If your oranges DO have a thicker skin, you can cut off the top and bottom before blending.
Instructions
Let's make a sugar free almond flour orange cake! Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed method with ingredient amounts, timings and nutrition info.
Step 1: Put the oranges into a pot filled with cold water and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour. Make sure the oranges are always submerged. This removes the bitterness. Drain and let cool.
Step 2: Cut the oranges in half and remove any seeds, then puree in a food processor or with a stick blender.
Step 3: Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, combine the orange pulp with all ingredients except the egg whites. I used a spatula to do this.
Step 4: Now, whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.
Step 5: Fold the egg whites into the cake batter. This will make the cake lighter in texture.
Step 6: Pour the batter into your cake tin and sprinkle flaked almonds on top.
Step 7: Bake in the oven until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Katrin's Top Tip
Separating the eggs and beating the egg whites to stiff peaks is essential for a light and fluffy cake texture. Don't miss this step.
Recipe FAQs
Oranges are relatively high in carbs and the internet will tell you that it is NOT a keto friendly fruit. One medium orange contains 12 grams of net carbs. However, it will always depend on the AMOUNT of orange (or any other fruit) you eat. I would definitely NOT eat an entire orange in one go. But eating ⅙ of an orange including the skin, as you would with this cake, is perfectly low in carbs!
You should not drink orange juice on a keto diet. or on a low carb diet. It's all the sugar from the orange, without any of the fibre! Think about it - you need to juice at least 3 oranges for a full glass of orange juice. That's 36 grams of net carbs. On a keto diet you generally eat between 20 to 30 net carbs per day. So, orange juice is NOT keto!
Yes. You can use tangerines, lemons or even grapefruit. Note that you will have to adjust the amount of sweetener accordingly.
Serving Suggestion
I like to call this orange cake a "breakfast cake" because it is filling, nutritious and a great way to kickstart your day.
You can enjoy it as it is, or spread it with butter. It's great alongside an almond milk matcha latte, a cup of keto iced coffee or a refreshing glass of avocado milk.
But of course, nothing should stop you from having it as a dessert!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezer: Slice and freeze for up to 3 months. Layer parchment paper between the slices so they don't stick.
More Keto Orange Recipes
- Healthy Chocolate Orange Cake1 Hours
- Sugar Free Orange Marmalade Recipe (Keto)2 Hours 40 Minutes
- Healthy Cranberry Orange Scones23 Minutes
- Keto Orange Cheesecake1 Hours 30 Minutes
More Sugar Free Cake Recipes
Here are more easy sugar-free loaf cake recipes to try:
- Keto Marble Cake1 Hours 15 Minutes
- Keto Peanut Butter Bread1 Hours 10 Minutes
- Keto Cinnamon Bread1 Hours
- Keto Blueberry Bread1 Hours 10 Minutes
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Recipe
Keto Orange Cake
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups almond flour 250g, or ground almonds. **see notes
- 2 oranges unwaxed, washed ***see notes
- 5 eggs medium, separated (or 4 large)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract
- seeds of 6 cardamom pods crushed
- 16 drops liquid stevia or to taste. Option to use 4 tsp-¼ cup granulated sweetener of choice
- handful flaked almonds to decorate
Instructions
- Put the oranges into a pot filled with cold water and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour. Make sure the oranges are always submerged. This removes the bitterness.
- Drain the water and let the oranges cool down.
- Cut the oranges in half and remove any seeds, then puree in a food processor or with a stick blender.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit electric or 160C / 320F fan. Line a 9x5 inch bread baking tin with parchment paper.
- Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. This will make the cake lighter in texture.
- Add all ingredients except the egg whites to the orange pulp and mix. Lastly, fold in the egg whites until well-combined. Test your batter for sweetness and adjust to taste.
- Pour the batter into your cake tin and sprinkle flaked almonds on top. Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Jonni
How many lemons to use in place of the oranges?
Katrin Nürnberger
Considering that lemons are smaller than oranges, I would go with 3-4 lemons. It depends on the size of the lemons!
Lizzy
Hi Katrin, thank you for your lovely keto recipes! I'd love to make this for a lunch for my daughter in a couple of weeks, but would like to make it more like a self-saucing pudding. Do you have any suggestions as to how I could do that please?
Katrin Nürnberger
I had to look up what a self-saucing pudding is, haha! I am not sure how I would do that. But how about this idea. Why not turn this into a poke cake? You could make a syrupy sauce with lemon juice, orange juice and zest and allulose. Poke holes in the cake and drench it. Or, just serve it with my sugar free orange marmalade.
Joanne Davies
So there is no butter or oil? Or did o miss something?
Katrin Nürnberger
No butter or oil!
Valerie
Anyone tried adding sourdough starter/"discard" to add airiness? Might alleviate the need to whip the whites (in the interest of time only).
Raquel
Hi there!
Many many thanks for this recipe.
I tried it today since I wanted something with orange flavour. I added 3-4 tablespoons of honey since we do not use stevia. I also used 4 eggs instead of 5 and cinnamon instead of cardamom and it turned out delicious .
It is a very spongy and light cake! Almost gone! Me and my partner loved it so much that have shared the recipe with our mums already:)
Also, I sprinkled cinnamon on top and walnuts.
Gary
I haven’t had cake in a long while as I am trying to reverse type II diabetes. Just had a slice of this cake I baked today. It’s lovely, I really like it and it’s great to have some cake again.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Tracy, my oranges were 10 centimetres in diameter so you would have to judge how many of your oranges you might need. The boiling softens the fibres in the oranges and also takes away the bitterness. Once your oranges have cooked, you could then not use all of the skins, for example, maybe only some of it. It would be an experiment. Alternatively, you could try the recipe with tangerines instead. These always have thin skins.
Katrin Nürnberger
Thank you for pointing out the error. Fixed - the amount of natural sugars in the recipe is 2.5g per slice.
Mary
Would love to try this but am on a diet for candida. Could I use lemons instead of the oranges?
Katrin Nürnberger
I know that some readers have used a mix of orange and lemons. You may need to use more sweetener.
Valerie
Or grapefruit?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, that may taste good too. Definitely more bitter though.
Marsh
I made this cake and it’s absolutely delicious. I love citrusy cakes and now I want to try lemon flavor. How many lemons do you think I should use 4 … 5? And also, would I have to boil them and simmer for an hour like I did with the oranges ? Thank you so much for sharing this recipe !
Katrin Nürnberger
I would go with 4 large or 5 small lemons. Boil them just like you did the oranges. Discard some of the skins if it is very thick.