Keto Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This keto gingerbread cake is the perfect low-carb dessert for the winter holiday season.  This easy recipe has all of the traditional flavors of gingerbread — brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.  This gingerbread cake is perfectly sweet, a bit spicy from the ginger, and incredibly moist.

sliced keto gingerbread loaf cake

Easy Keto Gingerbread Loaf Cake

This low carb, gluten-free gingerbread cake will remind you of your favorite coffee house gingerbread loaf.  It’s the perfect snack cake or dessert to serve at your next holiday gathering.

This keto gingerbread cake is made with almond flour and coconut flour — so it’s naturally low-carb and gluten-free. A tangy cream cheese frosting adds a pop of sweetness and is the perfect counterpoint to the spice cake.

The best part about this recipe is that it’s incredibly quick and easy to make. The batter comes together in 5 minutes!

And if you don’t have time to add the cream cheese icing, you could just as easily top it with a sprinkle of confectioner’s Swerve or a dollop of whipped cream.

You can serve this gingerbread cake as an afternoon treat, or as a sweet dessert to finish a holiday meal.  Sometimes, I’ll make this cake without icing, and eat it for breakfast with a strong cup of coffee.

keto gingerbread cake batter in a loaf pan

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Ingredients

To replace traditional grain flours, we’re using a mixture of almond flour, coconut flour, and psyllium husk powder in this gingerbread recipe.

Almond flour is one of my most-used keto baking ingredients.  I recommend keeping a bag in your pantry or your fridge– I use it all the time.  I like to use an almond flour with a super-fine texture made from blanched almonds. I’ve had success using Bob’s Red Mill and Anthony’s brands, but other brands will work well also.

I also use some coconut flour in this gingerbread cake recipe.  Coconut flour is high in fiber and absorbs liquids like you wouldn’t believe, so we only need to use 1/2 cup in this whole recipe.

The third “flour” in this recipe is psyllium husk powder.  Psyllium husk powder is used to retain moisture and help this cake from becoming too crumbly.

As is the case with most keto baked goods, a bit of xanthan gum will improve the texture of this gingerbread cake.  If you don’t have any, that’s okay.  Your cake will still taste delicious, it just will be a bit more delicate.

spreading cream cheese icing on keto gingerbread loaf

Keto Sweeteners

There are many low-carb sweeteners on the market.  When you first start baking with keto sweeteners, you may need to try a few before you find the sweetener that you like the best.

For example, many people like stevia drops and granulated stevia blends.  If you like it, that’s awesome!  But to me, they tend to taste a little bitter.

So instead, I prefer to use erythritol-based sweeteners, like Swerve or Lakanto brand products. Erythritol based sweeteners are convenient in that they measure in the same cup-for-cup ratio as sugar.

For the cake, I prefer granulated sweetener.  And for the frosting, I recommend a powdered version.

keto gingerbread loaf cake with cream cheese frosting

Variations on Keto Gingerbread Cake

This is a simple, one-bowl, one-pan cake.  But here I’ve included tips to turn it into muffins, or jazz it up with brown butter and toasted nuts.

  • You can also bake this gingerbread as muffins, instead of a cake.  Divide the batter into well-greased muffin cups.  Bake at 350 for approximately 25-30 minutes.
  • If you like nuts, you can add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter before baking.  For even more flavor, toast the nuts before chopping and adding them to the recipe.  To toast nuts: Place them in a single layer in a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 oven for 5-10 minutes — until just golden and fragrant.
  • For extra toasty flavor, use brown butter instead of the melted butter. To make brown butter, start melting butter over medium heat. Swirl the pan as it cooks.  It will foam, don’t worry! Once the butter is toasty brown and smells nutty, remove it from the heat.

keto gingerbread cake with cream cheese icing

Tips for Baking Keto Cakes

  • Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature before baking. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them in a large bowl of very warm water for a few minutes.
  • Use fresh baking powder. To test if your baking powder is still active, place a teaspoon of baking powder in a bowl and pour 1/4 cup of boiling water over it. If it bubbles right away, it’s still good.
  • Sometimes coconut flour browns more quickly than you want it to.  If you find that your gingerbread is browning too quickly, you can cover the top with foil.  Add a piece of foil over the top of the pan for the last 15 minutes or so of baking so that the top doesn’t over-brown.
  • Let the cake cool a while in the pan. Gluten-free quick breads and cakes are tender and crumbly when warm. So, it’s best to let the cake cool in the pan before slicing it.  Make sure to line the pan with the parchment paper so the cake is easy to remove from the pan. And finally, let it cool to firm up before slicing it— and you will be rewards with much prettier looking pieces.

slices of keto gingerbread cake

Storing and Freezing Keto Gingerbread Cake

Storing: To keep gingerbread fresh, first, make sure you let it cool completely.  Then, you can store it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or in a lidded storage container.  This gingerbread, unfrosted, will keep well at room temperature for a couple of days.  If you’ve already frosted it with the cream cheese frosting, you’ll need to store it in the fridge.

Freezing:  To save time during the busy holiday season, I like to bake double batches of desserts ahead of time and store them in the freezer to defrost later.  Bake once, eat twice!

To freeze this keto gingerbread cake, remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely.  Wrap the cake plastic wrap.  For extra insurance from funky freezer odors, you can put the wrapped cake in large “zip” freezer bags.  When you are ready to serve the cake, defrost it completely, and then make the cream cheese frosting.

More Keto Baking Recipes

If you like baking keto desserts, you may also like my Chocolate Oreo Keto CookiesFudgy Keto BrowniesVanilla Cupcakes, Pumpkin Bread or Cinnamon Crumb Cake Donuts.

Keto Gingerbread Cake

Keto Gingerbread Cake

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Keto gingerbread loaf cake recipe is the perfect, easy, low-carb holiday dessert recipe to serve at your next Thanksgiving or Christmas party. Gluten free, perfectly sweet, a bit spicy from the ginger, and incredibly moist.

Ingredients

Gingerbread Cake

  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup erythritol sweetener, like Swerve
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 3/4 almond flour
  • 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp  ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Cream Cheese Frosting
  • half batch of Keto Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

For the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" loaf pan, and line with parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sweetener together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well to combine.
  3. In another mixing bowl, stir together the almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk powder, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Break up any lumps of almond flour or coconut flour.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine. Add the water, and stir until smooth.
  5. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Notes

Optionally, you can add 1/2 tsp of xanthan powder to the recipe.

For the icing, see this post: https://greenandketo.com/keto-cream-cheese-frosting

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 234Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 114mgSodium: 230mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 4gSugar: 1gProtein: 4g

The nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. It was calculated by My Fitness Pal with the recommended brands and ingredients. All brands are different, so please verify the macros with your specific ingredients to ensure accuracy.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Pin this for later!

keto gingerbread loaf cake with cream cheese icing

14 thoughts on “Keto Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting”

  1. Is the low-carb maple syrup for flavor only, or does it serve as something more? I would like to make this cake today, and the low-carb syrups I am interested in that don’t have artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame (I absolutely loathe these and avoid them at all costs) are only available online and will, at best, arrive next day. If the syrup serves no structural purpose, I can use maple flavoring instead. The most frustrating part of keto is every time I come across a recipe that looks good, it has one item involved that needs to be ordered online. (Seriously, who keeps Psyllium Husk powder or Xanthan gum in the pantry as staples-and good luck trying to grab them on a grocery run)

    Reply
    • The maple syrup adds a significant amount of sweetener to this recipe. My recommended brand is Lakanto, which uses natural monk fruit sweetener.
      You can sub maple flavoring, but you will also need to increase sweetener and liquid to match.

      Also, I know this wasn’t the point of your comment, but several brands of xanthan gum and psyllium husk powder are available at my (not fancy) grocery store. Try looking in the gluten-free section for the xanthan gum, and the health supplements aisle for the psyllium husk powder.

      Reply
  2. “(Seriously, who keeps Psyllium Husk powder or Xanthan gum in the pantry as staples-and good luck trying to grab them on a grocery run)”

    Um me!

    Reply
  3. How much of the psyillum powder, it says 2 T cup. what does the T mean? Also you mention using xanthum gum but do not give an amount, how much should be used if added?

    Reply
    • Oops, sorry about the typo. It should be 2 tablespoons. And, if you want to add xanthan gum (which is optional) you can add 1/2 tsp.

      Reply
  4. Thank you! This is a good recipe. I made it this week along with other healthy snacks, for my husband and I, so we wouldn’t eat the candy. Very yummy. I’m also eating dairy-free as well as gluten free and low carb, so I didn’t want to make a cream cheese frosting. First I tried one that was supposed to be a “white icing” but it was tasteless, and when I substituted for the sugar, not great texture. I scraped that all off and made a butter cream frosting. I did use butter because I don’t think it would have tasted good with margarine. Anyway, it worked great.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Skip to Recipe