This sugar-free cake is a deliciously moist vanilla cake made with simple ingredients and with only 1 gram of sugar per serving. Plus, this cake is also egg-free, dairy-free, and suitable for anyone.
You might have already tried my delicious almond flour cake without eggs that is low-carb but not sugar-free. Since many viewers requested a sugar-free cake recipe using natural sweeteners and not eggs, I am glad to introduce this new cake recipe.
If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that over on Sweet As Honey, I publish all my favorite low-carb, low-sugar, healthy baking recipes to allow me (and others) to manage their diabetes or pre-diabetes and many of them are delicious cakes. So I’ve build quite an extensive knowledge of all things sugar-free, including how to turn a classic vegan cake sugar-free.
If you want another simple recipe, try my 2-Ingredient No-Bake Chocolate Cake. It’s made without any sweetener and with just two ingredients!
What Is A Sugar-Free Cake?
A sugar-free cake is a vanilla birthday cake made without sugar and no artificial sweetener.
It’s not a keto cake. It’s a low-sugar cake using natural sugar-free sweetener to sweeten the batter to keep your blood sugar level steadier.
As a result, it has a lower glycemic index than regular cake recipes, with only 1 gram of sugar per serving compared to 16 grams for a traditional cake.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This sugar-free cake is made with simple pantry ingredients, and it focuses on no sugar added and natural sweeteners so you can enjoy a sweet cake that won’t trigger sugar cravings.
All you need to make this delicious vanilla cake are:
- All-Purpose Flour – This is cake flour, it’s not a low-carb flour like almond flour, but, if you are after a cake-like texture that mimics and tastes like your favorite vanilla cake, this is the best option.
- Sugar-Free Crystal Sweetener – the best natural options are Monk fruit sweeteners blend that contains erythritol or allulose. They have no calories or net carbs so they won’t impact your blood sugar level.
- Plain Yogurt – Use any yogurt you love. I use cashew yogurt for this recipe but you can also use plant-based Greek yogurt or coconut yogurt.
- Almond Milk – or any unsweetened plant-based milk you love.
- Vanilla Extract – this adds a delicious subtle flavor to the cake crumbs.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – to make the crumb soft and airy.
- Melted Plant-Based Butter, margarine, or avocado oil.
- Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice
How To Make Sugar-Free Cake
Before you start, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil the pan with cooking spray. Set it aside.
- First, in a large bowl stir almond milk, apple cider vinegar, melted plant-based butter, and vanilla extract. Set aside for 5 minutes to curdle (photo 1).
- Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar-free sweetener you love (photo 2).
- Finally, fold the dry ingredients onto the wet ingredients and whisk to combine and form a smooth vanilla cake batter (photo 3). Don’t over-whisk the cake batter or sugar-free cake gets gummy at the bottom.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan (photo 4) and bake in the center rack of the oven.
- Bake the cake for 40 to 50 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool down in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack at room temperature for about an hour or until it cools completely.
Sugar-Free Frosting
You have two options when it comes to frosting this cake.
You can keep it plain or add a dust of sugar-free powdered sweetener on top of the cooled cake.
Then, serve with dairy-free, sugar-free whipped cream and berries. Or, use my coconut cream frosting.
Or, make a sugar-free yogurt frosting. To make it, stir plain yogurt with stevia drops and powdered sugar.
Ingredients
All you need to make this yogurt frosting are:
- Plain Dairy-Free Yogurt like coconut yogurt. It’s higher in fat and adds a lovely creamy texture like in cream cheese frosting, minus the dairy.
- Powdered Sugar-Free Sweetener
- Stevia Drops
Spreading The Frosting
Spread on top of the cooled cake and decorate with fresh mixed berries. Berries like raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries are the best low-carb fruits for a sugar-free cake.
They contain minimal fructose and won’t spike blood sugar levels too much.
Flavor Variations
You can use this cake to create a range of sugar-free cake flavors.
- Sugar-Free Lemon Cake – swap 1/4 cup of milk for lemon juice.
- Chocolate Chips Cake – add 1/2 cup of sugar-free dark chocolate chips in the batter at the end.
- Fruit Cake – Fold in 1/2 cup of mixed fresh berries in the batter.
- Cinnamon – Add 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the cake and use a sugar-free golden crystal sweetener.
- Peanut Butter Cake – Swap the yogurt for natural peanut butter. It’s keto-friendly if it has no-sugar-added.
Storage Instructions
If you add the yogurt frosting, the center of the case gets moist very quickly and decreases the storage time of the cake.
It will keep fresh for only two days in an airtight cake box in the fridge.
Without frosting, you can keep the cake fresh for up to 4 days.
Allergy Swaps
Below are some options to make this cake if you have food allergies:
- Gluten-Free – You can use all-purpose gluten-free flour, but since I didn’t try this option ,I am unsure how it will impact the cake texture.
- Sugar-Alcohol-Free – I didn’t try the cake with artificial sweeteners because they are as bad for you as sugar. You can’t remove the sugar alcohol entirely, or the cake comes out flat with less texture. However, you can swap the yogurt for unsweetened apple sauce or mashed banana and decrease the sweetener to 1/2 cup.
- Refined Sugar-Free Options – If you don’t like sugar-free sweeteners try healthier options like date sugar, coconut sugar, or demerara sugar.
- Yogurt-Free -You can use mashed banana, apple sauce, or sweet potato puree instead.
- Plant-Based Butter – You can replace the melted vegan butter with melted margarine, coconut oil, avocado oil, or canola oil.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, this is an egg-free sugar-free cake and if you don’t use all-purpose flour the batter won’t firm up.
Sugar-free cakes are not keto cakes, which means they contain fewer carbs than regular cakes, but still a decent amount of carbs that spike blood sugar levels. This recipe can however be considered a low-carb cake.
They are usually a safer option for diabetics but not the best choice.
They are more suitable as a healthier treat for someone looking to cut sugar from their diet or decrease their sweet tooth.
There’s always a tiny amount of sugar remaining in the other cake ingredients.
Even if a sugar-free cake doesn’t use real sugar, it always contains about 1 gram sugar per slice for flour.
You can turn this vanilla cake into a chocolate cake by replacing the vanilla extract with sugar-free cocoa powder.
Yes, you can make the recipe twice and assemble the two cake layers with the frosting in between them.
More Sugar-Free Recipes
Below are some more sugar-free or recipe that are easy to make low-carb using sugar-free sweeteners you to try
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Sugar-Free Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Almond Milk
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- ⅓ cup Dairy-Free Yogurt
- ½ cup Melted Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted)
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- ¾ cup Crystal Sweetener of Choice - like Monk Fruit erythritol blend
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
To decorate
- ½ cup Coconut Yogurt
- 3-4 teaspoons Vanilla Stevia Drops
- ¼ cup Powdered Sugar-Free Sweetener
- ½ cup Berries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil paper with oil spray, and set it aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk almond milk, apple cider vinegar, yogurt of choice, vanilla extract, and melted plant-based butter. Set aside 5 minutes.
- In another bowl, whisk flour, sugar-free sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and use a whisk to combine all ingredients together.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes in the center rack of the oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool down on a wire rack, it might deflate slightly and that's normal. Wait until it reaches room temperature before frosting.
Yogurt Frosting
- In a large bowl, stir plain coconut yogurt, stevia drops, and powdered sugar-free sweetener.
- Spread over the cooled cake and decorate with berries.
Storage
- Store up to 4 days in the fridge in a sealed container or freeze for later and thaw in the fridge the day before.
Delicious and easy to make!
Perfect taste and sounds quite healthy, so it’s now in my cake rotation 🙂