Enjoy the taste of Fall with this keto apple coffee cake. Baked with almond flour and a low carb substitute for apple, it is full of cinnamon flavour with a sweet crumble topping.
This soft and moist sponge is topped with a layer of "mock apples" and then covered with a crumble topping. Cinnamon is the main flavour for a delicious low carb and gluten free cake for Fall. Or any time of the year when you want a slice of comfort cake with your coffee!
The sponge for this keto apple cake has been declared by the Chief Taster as one of my best. He's challenged me to create other recipes with this sponge but that's a sneaky way of eating more cake.
How to make low carb apple cake
This low carb apple cake is made with almond flour. We have added whey protein powder for an additional nutritional boost and it also helps with the sponge texture. Although not essential, give it a try.
Whey protein isolate powder is a good choice but we have also made this with plain whey protein powder. Vanilla flavoured is a tempting choice but we've not yet tried that one.
The secret to this firm yet moist sponge cake? The sour cream. We may bake every cake with sour cream from now on!
Low carb apple substitute
We have used slices of zucchini to replace apples for a lower carb option. Zucchini has 2g net carbs per 100g serving with apples being 11g net carbs. Chayote also makes a great low carb substitute.
Whether you can make this with apple is a personal decision. One or two apples, sliced and served in small portions is not going to bring the Keto police knocking at your door.
If you use chayote, peel and slice it but we would recommend that you boil the slices in water until tender. They take longer to cook that zucchini as they are a firmer vegetable.
The sweetener
We used a brown low carb sweetener from Besti purely as we like the flavour with the cinnamon taste. Regular monkfruit, allulose or erythritol will work just as well.
More low carb coffee cakes
Enjoy more variations of coffee cake with these low carb recipes.
Keto Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Recipe Tips
This recipe can easily be used with coconut flour in place of the almond flour. We would recommended that you adapt our blueberry cream cheese coffee cake recipe which uses coconut flour. The cream cheese layer in that recipe is entirely up to you but would be a nice addition.
If the top of the cake starts to darken before the cake is fully cooked through cover with silver foil.
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Keto Apple Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup brown monkfruit or other low carb sweetener
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup whey protein powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teapoon vanilla extract
"Apple" Layer
- 1 large zucchini
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter
Crumble Topping
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¼ cup brown monkfruit or other low carb sweetener
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons butter cut into chunks
Instructions
Make the Apple Layer
- Trim the ends from the zucchini and peel. Remove any seeds and slice thinly (about ¼ cm).
- Heat the butter in a large pan on a medium heat.
- Cook the zucchini slices for 2-4 minutes until soft. Set aside to cool.
Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F degrees.
- Line a 8 inch spring form cake tin with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl whisk the butter and sweetener together until smooth.
- Whisk in the eggs one at time.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and continue to whisk.
- Add the almond flour, protein powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking power, baking soda and salt.
- Whisk until you have a smooth cake batter.
Make the crumble topping
- In a medium bowl add the almond flour, monkfruit, cinnamon and butter chunks.
- Mix with your hands/finger tips until the mixture looks like chunky breadcrumbs.
Assemble
- Spoon the cake batter into the cake tin and spread evenly.
- Add the zucchini slices on top in layers.
- Scatter the crumble topping on top of the zucchini slices.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is golden and the cake is firm. Check the cake is cooked through with a toothpick.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing the cake.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
SK in AR
Hi there! Would you please share with me a brand name or a photo of the label of the whey protein powder you recommend for this recipe? There are SO MANY different options on the store shelves that I'm just overwhelmed and don't know which one to pick. I've also never yet run into an unflavored whey protein powder -- all I've seen so far are strawberry, vanilla or chocolate. Any suggestions?
Angela Coleby
Hi, Isopure whey protein powder is very popular. Bob's Red Mill has an unflavoured one too.