Don’t let the simplicity and the small amount of ingredients in this easy keto cake recipe fool you. The cake is fluffy, tasty, and straightforward to make — everything you can wish for a cozy fall-time cake.
Even better: this recipe doesn’t call for baking powder or any chemical leavening agents — but it uses a simple technique to create a super fluffy and airy result — all with just 5 ingredients!
How to make the Fluffy 5-Ingredient Keto Pumpkin Cake
A couple of super-simple tricks guarantees the most successful result. First of all, it’s good to use a low oven temperature. 300 °F (150 °C) is just perfect for baking this cake. If you use a higher temperature, the top of the cake turns too dark while the interior is still raw (you can read more about that in the next section where I tell about my experiments). And naturally, too low oven temperature results in dry cake and painfully long baking time.
However, be sure that you bake the cake long enough to get the fluffiest result. And there is no danger that the cake would be raw and soggy.
The good old toothpick test works well also for this keto cake and its doneness. So, when you insert a toothpick in the center of the cake, it should come out clean, denoting that the cake is done and ready.
A silicone pan is the best pan for this delicate cake. As this cake is fluffy — unlike, let’s say, a heavy and dense pound cake — the easy release of the cake is a must. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a pile of crumbs. From my last week’s post, you might remember that in my first tests, I indeed ended up with a pile of crumbs — delicious crumbs! Anyway, there should be no danger that you would end up with a pile of (delicious) crumbs when you follow the instructions to make this cake. But, if this unfortunate incident happens, no panic, you’ll find at the end of this post how to use those crumbs in the best way! Anyway, you can grease the silicone pan to ensure the easy removal of the cake.
I also noticed that the cake turns out best when you bake it on the lowermost rack in the oven.
Still one thing: be sure to let the cake cool down properly before removing it from the pan. It releases much better when it’s at room temperature or lower — and there is less danger to end up with a pile of (delicious) crumbs.
But let’s take a look at how to prepare this easy, simple, and tasty keto cake full of fall-time flavors:
First, take 6 organic free-range eggs.
Separate 3 eggs. Place the whites into a deep and narrow bowl and the yolks into a large mixing bowl.
Beat the egg whites…
…until stiff peaks form. Set aside for a while.
Take the bowl with the yolks.
Add 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) almond flour…
…1/2 cup (120 ml) erythritol crystals (or granules)…
…1/3 cup (80 ml) pumpkin puree (that is, canned pumpkin — sometimes called solid packed pumpkin — or homemade pureed pumpkin)…
…and 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice.
Add also the remaining 3 whole eggs.
Mix well with an electric mixer until smooth, about a minute or two.
Add the egg whites.
Mix with a spatula…
…until well combined.
Transfer the mixture into a 9×5-inch (23×12.5 cm) silicone loaf pan — or other fancier silicone cake pan like tube pan (I baked a cake in a silicone tube pan; you can see it in the main photo of this post).
Here we go.
Bake at 300 °F (150 °C), preferably on the lowermost rack, for about 1 hour, maybe a little less.
Test the doneness with a toothpick.
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan. This is important as the cake holds together so much better when it has cooled down properly.
Now, when the cake is cooled down (my cake was overnighting outside as there is currently fridge temperature…), remove the cake carefully from the pan. Yes, carefully! Start with the edges.
Succeeded! What a perfect cake!
Cut into slices and enjoy!
How I came up with this easy keto pumpkin cake recipe
You might remember that last week, I did some recipe experiments, one of which was a Keto Pumpkin Cake that is based on my old notes and idea about a delicious pumpkin cake. Well, instead of a delicious cake, I ended up with a pile of (delicious) crumbs.
After examining my recipe, I noticed that the cake didn’t hold well together because it had too many beaten egg whites. So, the batter — and the cake — was too fluffy and fragile. I had used 6 eggs that I separated and beat the whites until stiff peaks formed. I combined and mixed the rest of the ingredients (including the 6 remaining yolks) and folded in the egg whites. There were obviously too many egg whites, and the cake didn’t hold well together.
If I decreased the number of beaten egg whites and used more whole eggs, it would make the cake hold better together, I thought. First, I separated 4 eggs and beat those 4 egg whites. For the cake, I used the 4 remaining yolks and 2 whole eggs. Again, the result was a tad too fragile, and the cake didn’t release properly. Moreover, the cake wasn’t easy to cut as it just crumbled in front of my eyes into (delicious) crumbs.
For my next experiment, I took again 6 eggs, but this time beat only 3 whites and folded them in with the rest of the ingredients. Now, the cake turned out perfectly! It was relatively easy to remove from the pan — once it had cooled down. Trying to remove a hot cake would have broken the cake and resulted in a pile of (delicious) crumbs. Also, the taste was superb: pumpkiny and full of warm fall-time flavor from my favorite seasoning, pumpkin pie spice.
Moreover, almond flour is such a perfect flour for keto baking – once you don’t consume too much as it contains a hefty amount of oxalates. But if your guts are in proper condition, there lives a good bacteria called Oxalobacter formigenes that breaks and consumes oxalates so that you don’t have to suffer from them. Also, some strains of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus degrade oxalates. But that’s enough science – just ensure your gut is healthy, so it keeps your body and mind healthy as well!
Even I was very delighted with my keto pumpkin cake, I wanted to try out a really easy version for which I just combine all ingredients (i.e., don’t separate the eggs and beat the whites separately), mix them well and then bake. Mainly I was interested in what happens if I don’t beat the egg whites but just use only whole eggs. How much less fluffy will the result be?
Well, the problem with this experiment was that I used too high oven temperature. At 350 °F (175 °C), the surface of the cake turned too brown, almost burned, while the interior was still raw. Moreover, I saw that the cake was pretty soggy anyway, so I definitely preferred the fluffy version with separately beaten egg whites — and when baked at low enough oven temperature.
Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy:
Fluffy 5-Ingredient Keto Pumpkin Cake
Don’t let the simplicity and the small amount of ingredients in this easy keto cake recipe fool you. The cake is fluffy, tasty, and straightforward to make — everything you can wish for a cozy fall-time cake.
Even better: this recipe doesn’t call for baking powder or any chemical leavening agents — but it uses a simple technique to create a super fluffy and airy result — all with just 5 ingredients!
Ingredients
- 6 organic free-range eggs
- 1 1/2 cups = 350 ml almond flour
- 1/2 cup = 120 ml erythritol crystals (or granules)
- 1/3 cup = 80 ml 100% pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 °F (150 °C).
- Separate 3 eggs. Place the whites into a deep and narrow bowl and the yolks into a large mixing bowl.
- Beat the 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside for a while.
- Take a large bowl and add the 3 egg yolks, the 3 whole eggs, almond flour, sweetener, pumpkin, spices (and the vanilla extract and salt if using).
- Beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
- Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites.
- Pour the mixture into 9×5-inch (23×12.5 cm) silicone loaf pan — or other fancier silicone cake pan — and bake on the lowermost rack for about 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, let cool completely (important!), and remove from the pan.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases - without any extra costs for you.
-
Frontier Co-op Pumpkin Pie Spice, Certified Organic, Kosher, Non-irradiated | 1 lb. Bulk Bag -
Farmer's Market Foods, Pumpkin Organic, 15 Ounce -
Anthony's Erythritol Granules, 5 lb, Non GMO, Natural Sweetener, Keto & Paleo Friendly -
Anthony's Almond Flour Blanched, 2 lb, Batch Tested Gluten Free, Non GMO, Vegan, Keto Friendly
| Nutrition information | In total | Per serving if 12 servings in total |
| Protein | 80.3 g | 6.7 g |
| Fat | 111.2 g | 9.3 g |
| Net carbs | 13.6 g | 1.1 g |
| kcal | 1408 kcal | 117 kcal |
How to get variation to this keto cake recipe
I love to eat this cake plain, as is, with a cup of nice, dark-roasted coffee with a good splash of heavy cream. However, if you want to get fancy, feel free to glaze the cake with powdered erythritol based glaze. I often make this keto glaze, and I think it’s a perfect glaze for this cake, too, when you replace the lemon juice with water or unsweetened almond milk and use vanilla stevia (or vanilla extract).
Actually, I made a version of this glaze and used it to glaze this cake. The result you see in the main photo of this post. For the glaze, I used a secret ingredient to reduce sweetness. Yes, keto glaze made with powdered erythritol is far too sweet to my taste buds, so for long, I’ve tried to find a keto-friendly bulk ingredient to reduce sweetness. I might have found that, so stay tuned!
Also, cream cheese frosting and this The Very Best Sugar-Free Vanilla Frosting crown the cake in the most exciting way. With all that rich, buttery deliciousness, this oldie but goodie is also one of my favorite frostings. For the cake below, I used this quick keto cream cheese frosting. It was beyond delicious!
Pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice are perfect matches with pecans, so this Totally Terrific Toasted Pecan Butter makes a really succulent and tasty combo with this pumpkin cake.
And now when I remember, this 3-Ingredient Keto Pumpkin Spice Caramel Frosting is the ultimate frosting for this cake! Just think of it: with 7 ingredients, you’ll create both the cake and the frosting!
But you don’t need any fancy frostings or glazes to make this cake special: Instead of pumpkin pie spice, you can use another seasoning to adjust the seasonality — yes, seasonings for seasonality! For the holidays and for winter, use gingerbread spice. For spring and Easter, use 1 tablespoon freshly-grated lemon peel and replace the pumpkin with 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice. For summer, use 1 tablespoon freshly-grated orange peel and replace the pumpkin with cream cheese.
Actually, this cake resembles my mom’s favorite cake that she has loved to bake for decades. It’s called Austrian Cinnamon Cake (“Itävaltalainen kanelikakku” in Finnish), and it’s a very popular cake in Finland. Well, at least it used to be very popular, and I think nowadays it’s considered somewhat retro. I loved it as a kid, but I haven’t had this sugary and wheaty cake for a couple of decades for obvious reasons.
Anyway, for years, I’ve tried to create a keto version of this classic Finnish cake but never have been completely satisfied with my experiments. This pumpkin cake recipe might work, though, when you replace the pumpkin puree with applesauce and the pumpkin pie spice with Ceylon cinnamon. The original sugary version of the cake contains raisins, but you can omit them for the keto version or use craisins (aka dried erythritol- or stevia-sweetened cranberries) instead. I will definitely try that out for the holidays!
Instead of baking a cake, you can make muffins from this batter. Use the same oven temperature but shorter baking time. I would expect 25-30 minutes would be enough, but it’s better to keep your eye on the muffins and check the doneness with a toothpick. I can only imagine how gorgeous cupcakes the muffins will make with a delicious keto cream cheese frosting!
Notice that the almond flour cannot be replaced, for example, with coconut flour as these two flours behave in a completely different way. Well, in some recipes, you indeed can swap the almond flour to coconut flour — when you use 1/4 coconut flour of the amount of almond flour. But I haven’t tried out if that swap would work in this recipe. That’s something for me still to be tested!
Oh yes, and I promised you the tips on how to use the possible (delicious) crumbs — if you end up with some and simply don’t want to nibble them just like that. So, I ate them with homemade keto ice cream. I actually made some holiday ice cream experiments. If I manage to perfect the recipe, I will post it for the holidays! The pumpkin cake crumbs taste so good with basically any keto ice cream, so highly recommended!
Another excellent use for the crumbs is to make cake pops. You can dip the pops in dark chocolate, or in keto or sugar-free white chocolate — considering you’ll find a decent brand. To make the cake pops, simply take some (delicious) crumbs and mix in as much cream cheese as you can form the mixture into balls. Then, dip the balls in the chocolate of your choice. For these cake pops, I used 9.2 oz (260 grams) crumbs and 2 oz (60 g) cream cheese. I froze the cake pops before dipping them in the chocolate so that they would hold better together and the chocolate coating would set quicker.
General prattling
At the beginning of the week, the Ruohonjuuri blog published a post about us Ketokamus. It was based on our interview. The post tells our company and our business in more detail.
I have done lots of chocolate experiments with my melanger this week. Getting enough flavor and the right consistency to this special chocolate is challenging. But I’m getting there. We will launch these new Ketokamu chocolates at the beginning of the year, so I have to be soon ready with the recipes to finalize the packages and make the first industrial tests.
My 9-year-old son has been practicing woodwork this week. I have been observing and guiding him. I have to say that for a 9-year-old, he does a pretty good job! I used to love to do woodwork and crafts when I was a kid, too. I remember once in our summer house, when the sauna building was renovated, I took the leftover wood and made 21 tiny boats from it! I actually gave name for each boat…
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