This keto rum cake recipe may be low carb and sugar free, but it is LEGIT. Heavily laced with flavourful dark rum, it's decadent AND diet-friendly!
It’s been a good enough recipe - definitely enough to scratch the itch!
I’ve been on a keto Caribbean recipe kick lately, which got me craving rum cake again. This time, I used the craving as an excuse to redesign it to be SO MUCH BETTER.
I’ve never been a fan of erythritol, so that’s been swapped in favour of allulose. Better taste, no weird cooling sensation, AND it just plain looks better. The protein powder was also changed, from unflavoured to vanilla - it makes a huge difference to the texture!
Anyway, back to the original post...
Before going keto - LONG before - I made the BEST cakes. I ran a cake business that was among the top in the state I was living in at the time, competed in cake decorating, etc.
My friends and clients called me “Evil Cake Overlord”, so when I wrote my second cookbook -all about cakes - It bore that name as well.
This low-carb rum cake is not only a gluten free rum cake, it’s also my very first foray into making low carb cake, period. Kinda shocking that it took me this long!
This keto cake doesn’t seem to have a lot of rum in it, but it’s definitely *enough* rum. If you’re mostly not drinking - like I am - you’ll definitely feel it! It very much tastes and feels like the real thing - a traditional rum cake.
From the first time I bit into one - straight out of the oven - I was blown away at how great this turned out - an amazing cake, the perfect dessert. Just a really great recipe!
Oh, and pro tip?
If you’re not eating it fresh out of the oven, try it reheated! 30 seconds in the microwave breathes new life into your leftover keto cake, really fantastic!
The Nutrition
Beyond being an easy recipe - you mix it with a spoon! - and a TASTY recipe, it’s pretty wild when it comes to nutrition, as well!
I was shocked when the software came out with the numbers. Once the 3 grams of fiber and 33.5 grams of sugar alcohols (36.5 grams together) are deducted from the 39 total carbs in each cake, you’re left with just 2.5 grams of net carbs per serving!
TWO POINT FIVE!
I had to run the numbers a few times, I was so shocked. In NO WAY does this feel like diet food, and even my “non-keto, spoiled when it comes to really good cake” husband loves them!
Oh, and each of the cakes has 8 grams of protein, as well!
Keto Rum Cake Ingredients
If you’ve done any of my keto dessert recipes, you probably have most of what you’ll need on hand - some are somewhat specialty ingredients.
Anyway, a few ingredient notes for you:
Keto Specialty Ingredients
These are the low carb ingredients I use to make the “keto flour”, you may need to visit a specialty shop for, or order online.
Allulose. This recipe was originally written using erythritol, but redesigned for allulose. Tastes so much better, without the weird mouth cooling sensation. It also browns up much nicer!
Vanilla Flavored Whey Protein Powder*
* This recipe was originally designed for unflavoured whey, but redesigned for vanilla protein powder. I find this gives a better texture and flavour, when baking. Just be sure to use something low carb, that you like the flavour of. I use Revolution Nutrition's High Whey in Vanilla Cake, and that's what the nutritional values are based on.
Rum
While you can use any basic rum you like (flavoured generally has added sugars), I recommend using an amber or a dark rum.
Personally, I swear by Screech - a Jamaican black rum from Newfoundland. It’s a complex, flavourful rum ... but it can be hard to come by, depending on where you are.
The sweet intensity of dark rum really does elevate this recipe, so if you can get SOME form of it, that’s what I recommend. Amber also works well, and white rum is good for a more mild option.
More Common Ingredients
The ingredients you’re likely to find in any grocery store.
- Almond milk (Unsweetened, plain)
- Finely chopped pecans (For the crust on top of the cake)
- Large eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Baking powder
- Salt
Equipment
Besides the usual baking implements, there’s at least one specific item you’ll need, in order to make this keto rum cake recipe.
Mini Bundt Pans
The wild success of my Keto Paska nonsense recently was still fresh in my mind when I gave in to my rum cake craving, so I decided to design this recipe as a set of mini bundt cakes.
Not only does it work well for the constraints of a gluten-free / flour free batter, it’s also great for portion control!
I used 2 of the 3 pans that came in this 3 piece set of silicone bundt cake molds, and they worked perfectly!
If you have different mini bundt pans, just know that different sizes or materials may change the yield or baking time. Just keep an eye on it!
Also note: Silicone pans take a bit longer to bake than metal pans. I use silicone, but the baking directions are for metal - you'll want to add about 5 minutes for silicone - just keep an eye on it!
Other Stuff
Large Pastry Bags - These are optional, but make getting the batter into the pans a lot neater.
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How to Make Keto Rum Cake
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, this is the pictorial walk through with additional commentary & Tips.
Rum Cakes:
Preheat oven to 350F (180 C), arrange 2 sets of silicone mini bundt pans on a large cookie sheet, spray with pan spray.
Divide chopped pecans among the bundt pan cavities - a little more than 1 teaspoon per, for 12.
In a separate bowl - I’ll usually use a small or medium bowl - beat together eggs, rum, and almond milk.
Note: I’ll just mix this by hand, using a silicone spatula. Unless you have mobility issues, there’s no real need for a hand mixer / electric mixer for this cake!
I like to spoon the dough into a large pastry bag and pipe it in, I find it a lot less messy.
Check for doneness - insert a toothpick or knife into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, continue baking until it's fully baked.
Before and After Baking
Rum Soak:
While the cakes are baking, prepare the rum soak:
Combine butter, water, sugar substitute, and rum in a small saucepan. Allow to heat to a simmer, then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
This will become the bottom of the cake.
Evenly pour the rum syrup soak over the cakes, going slowly and allowing small amounts of the syrup to absorb before pouring more.
Look at how cute and perfect they are!
Note: The batch pictured was from the original recipe. Erythritol doesn't caramelize as well as allulose, which is why the cakes in the process shots are so pale.
Keto Rum Cake Variations
While I love this rum cake as-is, there is definitely some room to customize it to personal preference. Here are a few different ways to play around with the flavours:
Add Extract
I like for all of the flavour to come from the rum, but feel free to add 1-2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract, if you’d like.
Feeling more adventurous? Try adding orange extract, coconut extract, or almond extract (go lightly on this one!), instead!
Change the Nuts
I default to pecans, but walnuts also work really well in this recipe, and I’m sure chopped almonds would be fine if you’re not into either of those options.
Keto Chocolate Rum Cake
Chocolate and rum go SO well together! To make a Chocolate rum cake, swap ⅓ cup of the protein powder out for cocoa powder.
Add Some Zest
Pretty self explanatory - add some citrus zest to the batter. Orange zest and lime zest are my favourite options for this recipe, but grapefruit or blood orange would also be fantastic.
Add Whipped Cream
Not so much a variation as a serving suggestion... serve with a dollop of sugar-free whipped cream or Cool Whip. SO good!
More Low Carb Dessert Recipes
Looking to indulge your sweet tooth with delicious keto desserts that won’t spike your blood sugar? Here are some of my favorite recipes!
Keto Chocolate Cookies
Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies
Keto Chewy Lemon Bars
Keto Chocolate Truffles
Keto Raspberry Coconut Bars
Low Carb Bananas Foster Truffles
Keto Cheesecake
Fudgy Keto Brownies
Marbled Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Key Lime Cheesecake
Keto Biscotti
Lemon Tart
Sugar Free Sour Peach Gummies
Keto Ladyfingers
Gluten-Free Keto Rum Cake
Keto Tiramisu
Keto Cream Cheese Mints
Keto Chocolate Mousse
Sugar-Free Jello
Low Carb Holiday Desserts
Keto Creme Brulee
Keto Carrot Cake
Keto Rum Cake
Equipment
- Mini Bundt Pan Sets
Ingredients
Rum Cake:
- ½ cup Finely chopped pecans
- 1 cup Superfine almond flour
- 1 ⅓ cup Allulose Use 1 cup if using an erythritol blend or other cup-for-cup substitute.
- ⅔ cup Vanilla Flavoured Whey Protein Powder
- ¼ cup Coconut Flour
- 1 tablespoon Baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Xanthan gum
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 4 Large eggs
- ⅓ cup Rum
- ⅓ cup Almond milk
Rum Soak:
- ¼ cup Butter
- 2 tablespoon Water
- ⅔ cup Allulose Use ½ cup if using an erythritol blend or other cup-for-cup substitute.
- ¼ cup Amber Rum
Instructions
Rum Cakes:
- Preheat oven to 350F (180 C), arrange 2 sets of silicone mini bundt pans on a large cookie sheet, spray with pan spray.
- Divide chopped pecans among the bundt pan cavities - a little more than 1 teaspoon per, for 12.
- Combine almond flour, allulose, protein powder, coconut flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, rum, and almond milk. Pour into bowl of dry ingredients, mix until smooth.
- Divide dough into into prepared the prepared mini bundt pans, filling each about ¾ full. I like to spoon the dough into a large pastry bag and pipe it in, I find it a lot less messy.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Check for doneness - insert a toothpick or knife into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, continue baking until it's fully baked.
- While the cakes are baking, prepare the rum soak:
Rum Soak:
- Combine butter, water, allulose, and rum in a small saucepan. Allow to heat to a simmer, then remove from heat and allow to cool.
- When the cakes are fulled baked, remove from the oven, poke the exposed cake all over with a fork.
- Evenly pour the rum soak over the cakes, allow to cool for about 10 minutes before turning cakes out directly onto serving plate(s).
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi. Would like to make this recipe but I only have Vanilla whey protein poder. Would that work? So that way I don't need to buy a whole jar of unflavored one. Thanks
Hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this - I procrastinate terribly!
I finally got around to reworking the recipe, as I've been slowly doing for all my old baking recipes. Now it uses vanilla protein powder, and it makes a huge difference!