This keto red velvet cake is a low carb variation of the classic cake with a cheesecake filling. Colorful, light and creamy, this is a delicious coconut flour cake.
This low carb red velvet cheesecake cake recipe is the ultimate dessert recipe perfect for holidays or celebrations. It’s a cake and it’s a cheesecake! Baked using coconut flour it’s a delicious low carb and gluten-free treat too.
I don’t normally bake such a large cake for the two of us but as Valentine’s Day was approaching my thoughts went to a red velvet cake. I also wanted to make a cheesecake so did a little research and saw delicious pictures of cheesecake cake. Genius! Why am I so late in my life to only just discover cheesecake cake! When two glorious baking worlds collide!
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WHAT MAKES RED VELVET CAKE RED?
Red velvet cake gets its distinct red color from the combination of cocoa powder and food coloring. The cocoa powder used in red velvet cake typically contains a small amount of natural red food coloring, which comes from anthocyanin, a pigment found in cacao beans. To enhance the red color, additional food coloring is usually added to the batter. Some red velvet cake recipes use beets to add a natural red hue, but this is not a traditional ingredient.
INGREDIENTS
- Coconut flour - my favorite low carb flour for keto cakes.
- Butter - ensure that the butter is softened for easy beating.
- Cream cheese - this also needs to be softened at room temperature for a smooth, lump free mixture.
- Sweetener - we use allulose but any other low carb sugar-free sweetener such as swerve, monk fruit or erythritol.
- Cocoa - we use unsweetened cocoa powder. You may want to add more sweetener to balance the rich flavor of the cocoa powder.
- Red food coloring - The exact shade of red can be adjusted by adding more or less food coloring, and different brands of food coloring can also result in different hues. Red food coloring is not necessary for the taste of red velvet cake, but it is an important factor in creating its iconic appearance.
HOW TO MAKE A KETO RED VELVET CHEESECAKE CAKE
This is an easy coconut flour cake with a few added extras! The cheesecake layer is baked but if your air fryer is large enough for an 8 inch cake pan you can cook the cheesecake in it.
Bake the vanilla cheesecake
Mix and bake the coconut flour red velvet cake
Mix the cream cheese frosting
Assemble and serve
RECIPE TIPS
If you have the room in your oven, bake the cheesecake filling and red velvet cake together. It quickens up the assembly process. You also need 3 can tins to do this.
The cream cheese frosting can be omitted if you don't want the cake to be too creamy in taste.
The red color of the sponge may vary depending upon the cocoa used and what brand of food coloring you use. Traditionally an acid is used in a red velvet cake to enhance the red colour, so you could add a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar in the cake batter for a richer red color.
Try making other cheesecake cakes with different flavors. We love this with lemon too!
If you want a smaller cake, half the cake sponge recipe and bake in one cake tin. Slice it in half and then assemble with the cheesecake layer.
STORAGE
Once cooled, and assembled, the keto coconut flour cake should be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container. It should last up to 4 to 5 days.
CAN YOU FREEZE THIS CAKE?
This is a great cake to freeze and if you freeze it in slices, it can be enjoyed slightly frozen, rather like an ice cream cake. Either freeze the cake whole or in slices, and it should last up to 3 months in the freezer.
CAN THIS BE MADE WITH ALMOND FLOUR
Making this keto red velvet cake is an easy swap if you don't like coconut flour. Use our almond flour chocolate cake recipe, add red food coloring and you are done!
OTHER LOW CARB RED VELVET RECIPES
If you enjoy a red velvet cake, try our other low carb recipes.
Keto Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
Ingredients
Cake - Two layers
- 10 medium Eggs
- 1 cup Coconut Flour
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup allulose or other low carb sugar substitute
- ½ cup Cocoa powder unsweetened
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 tablespoons Red food colour/natural colouring add more for deeper colour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut milk can or carton
Cheesecake Filling
- 16 oz Cream cheese
- ½ cup allulose or other low carb sweetener
- 2 medium Eggs
- 4 tablespoons Heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cheesecake Frosting
- ½ cup Butter softened
- 8 oz Cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons allulose or other low carb sweetener
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Filling
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F degrees.
- Grease and line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.
- Add the allulose, cream and vanilla and blend well.
- Pour into the cake tin and spread evenly.
- Bake for 1 hour.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Red Velvet Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F degrees.
- Grease and line two 8 inch cake tins with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the butter with the allulose or other low carb sweetener until creamy.
- Add the eggs and continue to whisk.
- Add the coconut flour, cocoa, coconut milk milk, salt and baking powder and mix well.
- Spoon the mixture evenly between the two tins
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is firm.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
To make the Frosting
- In a medium bowl add the softened cream cheese and butter and whisk until smooth.
- Add the low carb sweetener, vanilla and cream continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick.
To Assemble the Cake
- Put one sponge on a plate and place the cheesecake layer on top.
- Place the other sponge on top.
- Slather the frosting over the cake, ensuring that it is covered.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Sabrina
For the frosting, is the sugar substitute supposed to be the granulated or powdered type?
Angela Coleby
powdered is preferable
Kelli
I feel like this is missing an oil. The cake is more like a spread and when you beat the egg whites until firm, there is no “gently folding them” you have to mix them to really get it all together. Which made me thing you could possibly skip the step of separating the eggs and just make the batter with whole eggs. I did add approx a 1/4 water and 4-5 tbsp of avocado oil and the cake mix was still a dry ball. After really mixing my nice firm egg whites in - it became a pourable batter with some chunks but it did bake. I also had to add an extra 10 min to the bake time.
Erin
Can I use coconut cream instead of heavy cream or would that change the flavor? Would I still need the same amount?
Angela Coleby
You could but it would change the flavour. I'd keep the same amount though.
Clarisse
Please disregard my previous question. It’s been a long day and I obviously wasn’t reading the instructions throughly. Hehe thanks for sharing
Angela Coleby
LOL! I have that all the time! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Clarisse
Thanks! I have one concern though. I’m at the cake batter part and without mixing the egg whites it’s super tough. My mixer wont even go anymore. Is that normal? =(. I followed the instructions to the dot and just doubled up.
Angela Coleby
It sounds a bit too thick. Add some water to the mixture to soften it.
Matthew Jenkins
What is the cream I should use in the Frosting?
Angela Coleby
I use heavy/whipping cream
Tera Svendsgaard
There are two serving sizes (12 and 8). Which one is it?
Angela Coleby
8.
Tera Svendsgaard
Thank you. Going to try it tonight! Is the calories/serving for two layers or just one?
Angela Coleby
For the two layers.
Priscilla
Hi, this recipe looks great and I can't wait to try it. Just one question! I plan on making it in a round tin instead of heart shaped. Can I make the cheesecake part in a regular cake pan or should it be a spring foam pan? Thanks 🙂
Angela Coleby
You can use any shaped tin you like! I used the heart shaped purely because it was Valentines. Just make sure that the cheesecake part is made in the same shaped tin as the sponges. I prefer a spring-form pan purely for the ease of getting the cheesecake part out, but a parchment paper lined regular pan should be okay.
Arva Presswala
Hey, can I use almond flour instead of coconut flour?
Angela Coleby
You could but you will need to adjust the quantities.
Naty D.
Hi there, I’m interested in baking this cake however call me too literal but in the frosting ingredients you just list “cream” I sent this the same as the heavy or whipping cream you say to use for the cheesecake or Ian it like half and half? Thanks for your help!
Angela Coleby
Yes it is whipping/heavy cream. Sorry, we don't have a wide variety of cream here and I tend to forget the rest of the world does!!
Naty D
Oh man I totally didn’t catch my typo sorry for that! Thank you so much for your response! I’m excited to bake this cake!!!
Samantha Nealy
I made this for my daughter's birthday. She has been following the keto diet for a little more than 3 months and said the cake was great.
Angela Coleby
That's lovely to hear!
Kelly McDonald
I have the red velvet portion of this recipe in the oven right now. I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. It was very difficult to make sure that the yolk & coconut flour mixture was thoroughly combined because it was pretty much a lump when I added the whipped egg whites. The batter that I poured into the pan was still fairly lumpy, though I tried to get them as small as possible. There's got to be a better way to mix this batter. The cake smells great though. Looking forward to trying it. Made this for my husbands birthday today.
Alice
Happened to me today. A big ball of chocolate brownie. There was no gently mixing egg whites. Totally came out ok and we loved it!
Whitney
Hi! I’m thinking of trying this recipe I’ve never baked with erythritol before so I have a couple of questions. Did you use erythritol or did you use another sugar substitute and did you freeze your cakes at all or did you make your filling let it cool over night then make your cakes the next day and eat same day?
Thank you!
Angela Coleby
I used erythritol and I froze the filling overnight before using it. Then made the cakes the next day. The cake lasted a few days kept in the fridge but it's better on the day you bake the sponges.
Whitney
Thank you! Do you think if I made the filling and the sponges in the evening assembled it early morning and eat in the evening that would still be okay and yummy? If so I should keep the sponges in the fridge covered?
Angela Coleby
It should be. I kept mind in the fridge too!
Jackie
Where do you get cream from? I can't figure out where to get it.
Brady
If I only do 1 layer of the cake how does the cheesecake filling fair? Should I try slicing in half to make a sandwich cake?
Angela Coleby
You could slice it or how about serving the cheesecake layer on top and decorate with some cream?
Jess
Thank you so much for your reply.. 🙂
Jess
May I know the size of cake tin? Thanks
Angela Coleby
I used a heart shape tin that was 8 inches by 9 inches
Josee
Is there a liquid ingredient missing in the cake? Coconut flour absorbs so much liquid and my egg yolks weren't near enough and it solidified. I'm adding coconut milk in hopes of reedeming the batter... there was no way my egg whites could be folded in...
Angela Coleby
No there isn't as the eggs are usually enough, especially with the egg whites whipped. Perhaps my eggs are larger (they are about medium size). But adding coconut milk it a good idea. Coconut flour varies between brands too.
CHRIS
Your instructions say to beat cream cheese and butter for the filling but I don't see butter in the ingredient list for the filling? Is there supposed to be butter in the filling?
Angela Coleby
Hi Chris. No, there's no butter in the filling. This is what happens when you don't lock yourself into a room to type up a recipe. You end up with cats on the lap, dogs putting toys on your feet and the husband chatting about his work or what's for dinner! All corrected now thanks! If I am interrupted whilst typing this reply I will scream!
Kaysee
Can almond flour be used instead or only coconut flour?
Angela Coleby
Yes, it could, but change the amounts as you'll need more almond flour.