Keto Lemon Caprese Cake: How to Make an Italian Dessert Without Leaving Your Diet
The Caprese lemon cake is a traditional cake from the island of Capri that is naturally gluten-free. This version makes this delicious cake also suitable for the keto diet, replacing the sugar with sweetener and using a few other small tricks.
Do you love Italian desserts but are trying to watch your carbs and stay keto? No worries, I’ve got you covered! I’m going to tell you how to make a keto-friendly version of the famous lemon caprese cake, a traditional Italian dessert. I’ll give you the ingredient swaps you need to use and some tips to make sure it turns out great. Plus, how to decorate it, so your guests will be impressed even though it’s low-carb. No need to miss out on treats — with this lemon cake recipe, you can indulge without feeling guilty. Ready to learn? Tie on your apron, it’s baking time!
Keto Lemon Caprese Cake Ingredients
- Almond flour
- Butter, softened at room temperature for at least an hour
- Eggs
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Icing Sugar Substitute — This keto icing sugar works great as a final decoration on top. But if you want, you can also just use a granulated sweetener and blend it up real good in a blender or food processor until it’s nice and powdery.
- Organic Lemons — For the lemon zest, make sure to use untreated lemons. You’ll be grating the zest off, so organic is best. Organic lemons also have a much stronger flavor, which is nice in this recipe.
- Vanilla Extract — For the vanilla, I used this vanilla extract. It’s a little pricier, but it’s supernatural and will last you forever!
- Baking Powder — For the baking powder, look for one that’s gluten-free. But if you can’t find that, regular baking powder will still work fine, since you only need a tiny bit.
- Keto granulated sweetener – In this recipe, I used this zero calorie granulated erythritol.
- See salt
How to Prepare the Lemon Caprese Cake in Low-Carb Version
Let’s make this keto caprese cake! Grease a 22 cm (9 inches) springform pan with butter and lightly coat with almond flour. Preheat your oven to 200 °C. I used this 9 Inch non-stick springform pan with removable bottom.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sweetener of choice, baking powder, salt and grated lemon zest. Then add the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and mix it all up real good with a spatula. Set that mixture aside for now.
Now it’s time to whip the eggs. Take your eggs, softened butter and vanilla extract and beat them with an electric mixer for about 5–6 minutes, until they’re light and fluffy and tripled in volume. Gently fold the whipped egg mixture into your almond mixture, one spoonful at a time, mixing from the bottom of the bowl up so it doesn’t deflate.
Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for 5 minutes without opening the door. Then lower the temperature to 165 °C and keep baking for another 45 minutes. Actual baking time may vary depending on your oven, so keep an eye on it. To check if it’s done, insert a toothpick into the center — it should come out slightly moist but not wet.
TIPS & TRICKS — If the cake surface starts browning too quickly during baking, cover it with some parchment paper to finish cooking.
After 45 minutes, remove that cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert it onto a serving plate or rack and let it cool completely for 4–5 hours, ideally overnight.
Once it’s all cooled off, you can decorate the top of the cake with some stencils. Just place a stencil on top and sift some powdered sweetener through it. Remove the stencil to reveal your design! Garnish it with some fresh lemon slices and mint leaves for an extra pop of color and visual appeal. Enjoy!
Keto Lemon Caprese Cake Variations
Variation 1 — Add a Tropical Flavor Profile
To prepare a keto lemon and coconut caprese cake, add 50 g of grated coconut to the original recipe. Mix the coconut with the almond flour and baking powder, then combine the mixture with the remaining ingredients. The coconut provides a crunchy texture and its tropical flavor complements the lemon well.
Variation 2 — Enhanced Creaminess
A technique to make the lemon caprese cake creamier is to incorporate a small amount of mascarpone into the batter. Adding 50 g of mascarpone is enough to up the creaminess without impacting the carb count too much. It really takes that lemon cake to another level of richness.
The Tricks to Get a Perfect Keto Lemon Caprese Cake
Choose the right ingredients. Use fresh organic lemons; it will give you way more lemon flavor. Finely ground almond flour will provide your dough a nice structure.
Be careful with the sweetener. When adding sweetener, start with only 3/4 of what the recipe calls for. Taste the dough and add more if you want after. Some people don’t like a lot of sweetener taste, but others love a little bitter lemon flavor. Either way, you can add more sweetener, but can’t take it out!
Allow the cake cool completely before the decoration. This low-carb lemon caprese cake is best enjoyed fresh, garnished with whipped cream or mascarpone and grated lemon zest for optimal enjoyment of flavors.
Keto Lemon Caprese Cake: How to Make an Italian Dessert Without Leaving Your Diet
Equipment
- 1 22 cm or 9-inch springform pan
Ingredients
- 200 g almond flour (2 cups)
- 100 g erythritol or sugar-free sweetener (½ cup)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- grated peels of 2 fresh untreated lemons, washed well
- 100 g extra virgin olive oil (⅓ cup)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 70 g softened butter (½ stick plus 1 tbsp)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered sweetener and lemon slices to decorate
Instructions
- Grease a 22 cm springform (9 inches) pan with butter and lightly coat with almond flour. Preheat the oven to 200 °C (392 °F).
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sweetener, baking powder, salt and grated lemon zest.
- Add the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and mix thoroughly with a spatula. Set aside.
- Whip the eggs, softened butter and vanilla extract with an electric mixer for approximately 5–6 minutes, until light and fluffy and tripled in volume.
- Gently fold the whipped egg mixture into the almond mixture, one spoonful at a time, mixing from the bottom of the bowl up to avoid deflating.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake at 200 °C (392 °F) for 5 minutes without opening the oven door. Then reduce the temperature to 165 °C (ca. 329 °F)and continue baking for an additional 45 minutes. Actual baking time may vary depending on oven type. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake — it should come out slightly moist but not wet. If the cake surface browns too quickly during baking, cover with parchment paper to finish cooking.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Invert onto a serving plate or rack and let cool completely for 4–5 hours, ideally overnight.
- Once cooled, decorate the cake with stencils by placing the stencil on top and sifting powdered sweetener through. Remove the stencil and the keto caprese cake is decorated.
- Garnish with fresh lemon slices and mint leaves for additional color and visual appeal.
