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    Home » Desserts

    Author: Emily Krill | Published: Oct 12, 2019 | Modified: Nov 14, 2021

    Keto Lemon Pound Cake

    Jump to Recipe

    This recipe for Keto Lemon Pound Cake is a low carb take on a classic dessert.  It’s a moist and tender low carb cake with only 5g net carbs per slice. 

    a fork holds a bite of sugar free lemon pound cake

    Today I thought I'd share a great recipe for Keto Lemon Pound Cake.

    But first, a quick jaunt back in time to the 18th Century.

    Back then, women didn't have cookbooks. (And most of them couldn’t read one if they had it.)  So simple recipes were passed along from woman to woman.  Like this recipe for an incredibly large cake that called for 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of eggs, 1 pound of flour, and 1 pound of sugar.  Hence, the name: “pound cake”.

    1800's wood cut print of women baking

    So get out your pound of sugar and let’s make some pound cake!

    Just kidding.  No, for this Keto Lemon Pound Cake, we’ll use a sugar-free sweetener called Swerve. It's made from a sugar alcohol called erythritol. It has zero calories and zero net carbs because your body doesn't digest sugar alcohols, so they pass right through you.  Swerve is very popular among low carb dieters who are in the know. 

    swerve granular

    Swerve Granular

    Buy Now →

    Swerve Bundle

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    Swerve Confectioners

    Swerve Confectioners

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    Tips and tricks 

    First off: Always use an oven thermometer to double check your oven temp.

    Back in my younger, pre-blog days, I had this oven that was always 20 degrees lower than the temperature that I set it for.  So I ended up adjusting the temperature up by 20 degrees every time I used it.  

    After a year or so of this, my oven thermometer got so gunky that I couldn’t read it anymore.  

    So I bought a new one and was shocked to discover that my oven had been right all along!  It was my oven thermometer that had been all screwy.  Long story short:

    Always check your oven temp with a reliable oven thermometer.  

    an oven thermometer against a green background

    What if the lemon cake cracks on top?

    Oh, it’s gonna crack.  It happens to everybody, even Queen Martha Stewart.  But you've just got to pick yourself up and carry on. (And don't worry, with a little extra frosting, no one will be the wiser.)  

    a top down view of low carb lemon pound cake on a cutting boards with some lemons strewn about

    When is it done cooking?

    The cake should be pulling away from the edges of the pan.  A toothpick in the center should come up without any uncooked batter.  And if you are truly in doubt, you can use an internal thermometer to be sure that the cake has reached 210 degrees F.

    a top down shot of a slice of Keto Lemon Pound Cake on an orange plate, surrounded by lemon slices

    And so end my musings on Keto Lemon Pound Cake.

    Sure, it was a lot easier to make pound cake back in the day, when your only ingredients were a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, a pound of flour, and a pound of sugar.  But I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that this low carb lemon pound cake recipe is a little bit healthier than pound cakes in the days of yore.

    So let’s just leave sugary pound cakes for the old timers.    

    Big-Chef-Orange-Square

    Ok, chow for now!

    Big-Chef-Orange-Square
    (But let's keep in touch.)

    Print

    📋 Recipe

    Keto Lemon Pound Cake

    a fork holds a bite of sugar free lemon pound cake
    Print Recipe

    ★★★★★

    4.7 from 3 reviews

    Today I’m going to show you how to bake up a Keto Lemon Pound Cake.  It’s a moist and tender low carb cake with only 5g net carbs per slice.

    • Author: Emily Krill
    • Prep Time: 10
    • Cook Time: 60
    • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
    • Yield: 10 slices 1x
    • Category: Dessert
    • Method: Baked
    • Cuisine: American

    Ingredients

    Scale

    Pound Cake:

    • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
    • 1 cup Swerve or equivalent granulated sweetener
    • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
    • 8 large eggs
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
    • 2 tablespoons lemon zest (1lemon)
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
    • 2 ½ cups super fine almond flour*

    Frosting:

    • 1 ½ cups Confectioner's Swerve or equivalent powdered sweetener
    • 6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
    • ½ teaspoon lemon extract

    Instructions

    Step 1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 5  x 9 inch loaf pan liberally with cooking spray.

    Step 2.  In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and sweetener with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  

    Step 3.  Cracked the eggs into a small bowl.  Slowly pour the egg, one by one with your left hand and beat them in with the electric mixer in your right hand.

    Step 4.  In a medium sized bowl, mix together almond flour, salt and baking powder.

    Step 5.  Zest the lemon and add the zest to the batter.

    Step 6.  Use the electric mixer to beat the dry ingredients into the batter.

    Step 7.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake for 50-60 minutes until the edges start to pull away from the pan and a toothpick in the middle of the cake comes out clean.  You can also use an in internal thermometer to make sure that the pound cake has reached 210 degrees F.

    Step 8.  All the pound cake to cool completely in the pan, 2 hours.

    Step 9.  In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the frosting.

    Step 10.  Spread the frosting over the top of the pound cake and let the frosting drip down the sides.  You may have a little more frosting than you need.  It just depends on how much the pound cake has cracked in the middle. 

    Notes

    *If you take this cake to a party, make sure to clearly mark that it contains nuts.  Most people don’t expect a cake to use almond flour, so people with nut allergies might inadvertently eat it. 

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: 1 slice
    • Calories: 381
    • Fat: 35
    • Carbohydrates: 8
    • Fiber: 3
    • Protein: 12

    Keywords: Keto Lemon Pound Cake, Low Carb Lemon Pound Cake, Gluten Free Lemon Pound Cake

    Where to buy Swerve

    swerve granular

    Swerve Granular

    Buy Now →
    swerve brown

    Swerve Brown

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    Swerve Confectioners

    Swerve Confectioners

    Buy Now →

    Swerve Bundle

    Buy Now →

    If you liked this low carb cake recipe, then you might like my Keto Banana Bread, Almond Torte, Berry Shortcake or Strawberry Jello Layer Cake.

    « Keto Tomato Soup
    Crispy Dehydrated Zucchini Chips »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Annette Alicea says

      April 28, 2020 at 4:09 pm

      Can I make cupcakes instead?

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        April 28, 2020 at 5:26 pm

        That should work. Try baking them at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

        Reply
    2. Dee says

      March 03, 2020 at 11:57 pm

      One of my favorite keto recipes, however, do I the Icing is not good. Next time I’m considering a lemon cream cheese icing.

      ★★★★

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        March 04, 2020 at 7:07 am

        Ok!

        Reply
    3. Gloria says

      October 16, 2019 at 11:04 am

      I noticed that this recipe calls for Lemon extract and Lemon zest but does not utilize the juice from the lemon.. Is there a reason that it uses the extract rather than the actual lemon juice?

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        October 16, 2019 at 12:16 pm

        I find lemon cakes that use just lemon juice too mellow. Lemon extract gives the cake a nice punch of flavor.

        Reply
        • Gloria says

          October 16, 2019 at 12:29 pm

          Thank you.. that makes sense

          Reply
    4. Janice says

      October 12, 2019 at 3:48 pm

      Delicious! Made this for my husband who is diabetic and he raved about it. He said it doesn't even taste like diet food. Thanks for posting this!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        October 12, 2019 at 3:50 pm

        No problem. It's a pleasure to help a fellow diabetic.

        Reply
    5. Tonya says

      September 10, 2019 at 10:13 am

      What’s the net carbs per serving? Is it 3 or 8 net carbs. Thanks Tonya

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        September 10, 2019 at 10:18 am

        To get the net carb amount, you subtract the Fiber amount (3g) from the Carbohydrate amount (8g). And 8-3=5.

        Reply
    6. Denise says

      April 14, 2019 at 12:43 pm

      Could this be made in a lamb cake mold? If so, would you use the same baking time?

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        April 14, 2019 at 3:37 pm

        No, I wouldn’t try using this batter in a cake mold. It’s very dense and I don’t think it would release from a lamb cake mold. Sorry- it sounds like a nice idea for a Spring dessert!

        Reply
      • Chris says

        April 16, 2022 at 6:23 pm

        Denise!!!! I am looking for a keto recipe for a lamb cake mold!!!
        Did it work??!!

        Reply
      • Chris says

        April 17, 2022 at 9:36 pm

        Ladies; I did use this recipe for a lamb cake mold and it worked perfectly! I had approx 1/3 cup batter to spare after filling half the mold. Cooked for 50 min, removed top half of mold after cooling for 10 min, then removed bottom half of cake 12 hrs later. (I did grease and flour the mold).

        ★★★★★

        Reply

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    I'm Emily, the diabetic behind Resolution Eats. Many years ago, I made a New Year's resolution to switch to a low carb diet. It improved both my health and my outlook on life. Since then, I've come up with hundreds of Keto recipes for everything from soup to nuts. And this blog is a way for me to share the low carb love. Cheers!

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