Our sugar-free, low-carb, recipe today is a classic keto pound cake made into easy bite-sized bars full of lemon flavor. These easy keto lemon pound cake bars are perfect for a Spring brunch holiday, breakfast or a healthy anytime keto treat to curb your sweet tooth.
CARBS IN LEMON POUND CAKE
The traditional pound cake got its name for the very fact it uses simple ingredients in a very simple and equal amount; a pound each of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.
Pound cakes are usually baked in a loaf or bundt pan and finished with a dusting of confectioners sugar, but today of course, we are making a sugar-free, keto cake!
By removing sugar and white flour from the traditional recipe, we turn a very high carb pound cake into a fabulous low carb lemon pound cake that everyone will love, even the non-keto family and friends!
Carbs in traditional lemon pound cake such as Starbucks Ice Lemon Pound Cake in 100 grams has 52.8 g carbs according to the app Cronometer. WOW!! That's very high and definitely not recommended on a low carb or keto diet.
Carbs in our Keto Lemon Loaf are 8 total carbs or 4 net carbs which is considerably better for a ketogenic diet and won't spike your blood sugar. All the rest of the nutritional information is in the recipe card at the bottom of the page for our low-carb pound cake recipe.
SUGAR FREE KETO SWEETENERS
One of our newer favorite low carb sugar substitute sweeteners that doesn't leave an aftertaste, is Better than Sugar by Sweetleaf. They have a confectioners powdered sweetener which would be best for this recipe and they also have a granulated option.
It's a combination of erythritol and stevia and has plenty of sweetness as sugar would provide. Swerve confectioners sweetener is also low carb, but doesn't have as much sweetness and you may need to use a bit more to get this as sweet as you like.
Allulose would be another option, but again it isn't as sweet as using the Better than Sugar sweetener. Allulose comes in a liquid, and granulated form which would be best for this keto low carb lemon cake.
Can I Add a Sugar Free Frosting?
Yes, if you want to include a keto frosting over the top of the cake, you can use any of the following options:
Sugar Free Cream Cheese Frosting
Sugar Free Buttercream Frosting
If you wanted to make a sweet lemon glaze, you this icing recipe from my Air Fryer Lemon Cookie recipe over the top of the pound cake.
CAN YOU SWAP OUT THE DAIRY?
Yes you absolutely can swap out the dairy used in this keto pound cake recipe for non dairy options.
Butter can be swapped for coconut oil, or vegan butter or ghee if you can tolerate clarified butter that has very little lactose in it.
You can swap the yogurt used in this beautiful keto lemon cake recipe for canned coconut cream or coconut yogurt or almond yogurt.
CAN YOU SWAP ALMOND FLOUR?
Yes! If you need to swap out the almond flour, a great nut free alternative is using sesame flour.
If after blending, the batter is still quite wet, add a but more to get the texture the consistency of cake batter.
Sunflower seed flour could be used, but the baking soda will cause a chemical reaction due to the chlorophyl in the seeds causing a green tint to your baked goods. Remove the baking soda if using sunflower seed flour to avoid that greenish color.
A classic keto lemon cake made into easy bite-sized bars today. These Easy Keto Lemon Pound Cake Bars are perfect for breakfast or a healthy anytime sweet treat on your keto diet, low carb diet or sugar free diet.
I used a little butter for that great tasting cake but having the addition of Greek yogurt really helps with the light and fluffiness of these lemon pound cake bars. Having a combination of flours too, rather than just one, also makes these nice and moist and spongy.
Can I Swap Lemon for Orange?
Yes, if you're not into lemon or the rest of your family aren't lemon lovers like yourself, you can swap all the juices and zest for orange extract or fresh orange juice and zest.
More Lemon Keto Desserts
Here are some of our most favorite recipes that everyone loves!
Sugar Free Low Carb Lemon Cheesecake Mousse
Keto Lemon Cheesecake Jars with Lemon Cookie Crumb
Slow Cooker Lemon Blueberry Custard Cake
Keto Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Easy Keto Lemon Pound Cake Bars
Ingredients
- 3.5 tablespoons melted butter (or 50g)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or heavy cream
- 4 large eggs divided, room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream or Plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ( juice from 1.5 lemons) or 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
- 1.5 cups almond flour (or 150g) or sunflower seed flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour (or 30g)
- 120 grams Monk fruit & Allulose sweetener ( or ½ cup plus 2 tbsp) (or Better than Sugar confectioners or low-carb sweetener of choice)
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder aluminum-free
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160 fan.
- Add the butter and almond milk to a pan and simmer until slightly warm (don’t allow it to boil). (Option to microwave if you prefer). Allow to cool for 1 minute and add the rest of the wet ingredients; egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice. Whisk to combine.
- Place all the dry ingredients in a clean large mixing bowl and stir.
- Add in the egg yolk mix and whisk with an electric whisk until combined.
- Whisk the egg whites in a clean separate bowl using an electric whisk until thick and stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the egg whites through the lemon pound cake batter, or lightly beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Try not to over whisk so that batter doesn’t deflate.
- Spoon the mixture into a grease parchment paper lined loaf pan (4 by 8 in) and bake for about 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick can be inserted without crumbs sticking. Note: After 30 minutes loosely cover with prepared loaf pan with a sheet of foil (don’t seal tightly) this will prevent the top over browning while the cake continues to cook and firm up.
- Remove the foil and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then cool on a wire rack before cutting into thick slices. Note: These easy Keto Lemon Pound Cake Bars will firm up when cooled so try not to over-bake.
- Top with fresh berries and sugar free whipped cream if desired.
- Storage: Airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Margaret Bencomo-Rivera
Is the swap from almond flour to sesame flour 1to 1? Thanks for nut free alternative, my husband is allergic to almonds.
Brenda
It can be but it just depends with certain recipes. So best bet is to start there with the same amount and then if the batter seems very sticky, add about 1/4 cup more until it's not sticky.
Judy Morin
7 x 8.5 x 2" - that doesn't seem like a loaf pan. Could you please check the dimensions of the baking pan?
Brenda
You can use 8 by 4.
Carroll
Can you use heavy whipping cream instead of almond milk. Thanks
Bryson Fico
I love the intense lemon flavor and excellent with a cup of coffee especially with a dab of butter.