Sugar Free Keto Apple Cake

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This easy keto apple cake is going to wow your guests and it's so healthy you could eat it for breakfast. It has a moist, fluffy crumb studded with apple pieces and it is topped with a sugar free cinnamon streusel layer. A keto coffee cake perfect for the colder season.

"A keto cake with real apples!" I hear you scream… yes, indeed!

I've tried all the faux low carb apple cake recipes with zucchini and apple cider vinegar over the years. They are okay, but let's be honest, they are no real apple cake.

This gluten free, sugar free apple cake is filled with big bursts of flavourful apple pieces in every bite.

Together with my keto apple cider donuts and these keto apple muffins this cake is my favourite autumn treat.

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Ingredients For Sugar Free Apple Cake
How To Make A Keto Apple Cake
Recipe Tips And Substitutions
Recipe FAQs
Serving Suggestions
More Sugar Free Cake Recipes
Recipe

Ingredients For Sugar Free Apple Cake

ingredients to make this recipe measured into bowls

Of course, this cake is not free of sugars because there's natural sugar in apples. When I say sugar free apple cake, I'm referring to the fact that there's no added sugars in this cake. I'm using gluten free, low carb flours and an erythritol based low carb sweetener instead, which makes this cake very low sugar and suitable for diabetics.

Let's look at the ingredients:

Apples

I used 400 grams (14 ounces) of dessert apples. It doesn't matter which type you choose - Granny Smith, Braeburn, Golden Delicious - they all work.

Only Bramley apples would require more sweetener as they are more tart. If you want to use Bramley, adjust the recipe accordingly.

I recommend peeling the apples. The hard bits from the skin interfere with the cake texture. Although if you like the idea of a VERY rustic cake texture, by all means, leave the skins on.

Sliced one apple to top the cake with and chop the rest - those pieces get mixed into the batter. The apples are mixed with lemon juice to prevent browning and sweetener.

Cake Batter And Streusel

This is a super easy, tasty batter! Here's what you need:

Eggs - Should be large and room temperature
Butter - Use unsalted. I melt it in the microwave, then cool it a few minutes
Cream cheese
Unsweetened almond milk
Almond flour - I use ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour. If you use super-fine almond flour, I would reduce the amount by 2 tablespoons.
Coconut flour - Works so well in combination with almond flour. Ideally, always measure your low carb flours with digital scales. It's much more precise than cups.
Sweetener - my go-to is a granulated erythritol monk fruit sweetener blend. Both white and golden sweeteners (which are brown sugar replacements) would be good in this cake. You can also use allulose or xylitol. When using xylitol, be aware that it is toxic to dogs.
Baking powder, vanilla and cinnamon

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make A Keto Apple Cake

Prepare Apples

Slice one apple and dice the rest.

Place them in a mixing bow. Squeeze over a little lemon juice to prevent browning and drain any excess to prevent sogginess. Stir in the sweetener and let the mix sit for 30 minutes to macerate.

Cake Batter

In a large bowl using an electric mixer or in a food processor, beat the room temperature eggs until pale, fluffy and double in size. This takes about 2 minutes.

Add the sweetener, butter, cream cheese, almond milk and vanilla extract. Continue beating for another 1 minute.

Mix the almond flour, ¼ cup coconut flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Then add to the wet ingredients and blend until you have a smooth batter.

Crumble

Mix all ingredients in a separate bowl using a fork and set aside.

Assembly

Separate the apple slices from the diced apple. Mix the chopped apples through the cake batter and fill the prepared springform cake pan (don't forget to line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the sides first!).

Arrange the apple slices on top in a single layer. Top off with the streusel mix.

Bake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for 60-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out free of dough.

Let the apple coffee cake cool completely before releasing and removing the springform. Grain free baked goods are very fragile when hot and firm up as they cool.

a slice of apple cake on a plate with a fork and vanilla custard

Recipe Tips And Substitutions

Don't let it burn: Almond flour cakes brown quicker than cakes made with wheat. Check the cake after 35-40 minutes oven time. If the top of the cake has browned sufficiently, loosely cover it with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent burning.

No coconut flour - To make this keto apple cake without coconut flour, replace it with 3 times the amount of almond flour.

Dairy free - For a dairy free keto apple cake, replace the butter with coconut oil and the cream cheese with coconut cream.

Nut free - Try a blend of sesame flour and sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour.

Using different fruits - This cake would work well with berries, although I would leave the cinnamon out of the cake batter.

Using a different cake pan: You could use a rectangular pan if you prefer and even make a no sugar added cinnamon apple dump cake - where the apple mix is at the bottom, topped by the batter.

Recipe FAQs

Can you eat apples on keto?

Yes, it depends on the amount. Apples contain a fair amount of carbs, that's why you might have heard that "apples are not keto". But
keto is a metabolic state, not a food. And as long as you eat higher carb food in moderation, it can be part of a low carb diet and even a keto diet. This includes apples! I still make my sugar free applesauce every autumn, and we all love these sugar free flapjacks.

How much apple do you eat per portion?

This keto apple cake contains 400 grams of dessert apples - about 4 apples. Spread across 12 slices of cake, we're talking ¼ apple per portion. This way, you're getting all the apple flavour but at the same time, each slice only has 6.5g net carbs.

How do you store sugar free apple cake?

Store in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Serving Suggestions

We love serving sugar free apple cake with a simple homemade custard like this one. For a dairy free option, use my keto custard (just keep it on the stove until the mix thickens and coats the back of a spoon - skip the oven part).

Alternatively, serve with a dollop of keto whipped cream or a scoop of low carb vanilla ice cream.