This Low-Carb Blueberry Almond Flour Coffee Cake boasts swirls of blueberry goodness. This recipe starts the day on a sweet note, but can still be part of a low-carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, Atkins, diabetic, or Banting diet.
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The Cake:
Sometimes I just want some sweetness with my bacon in the morning, and this recipe delivers. There is no jam or butter needed with this coffee cake. Jammy blueberries are swirled throughout the vanilla-scented cake. I added some bourbon to the cake, but this is optional. The cake is just sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth without being overly sweet.
I used my food processor to make the batter for this cake. This makes the recipe quick and easy to get in the oven. To manage my time, I start making the blueberry syrup and, as it simmers, I prepare the cake batter. The swirls make this cake look amazing, but they are really made by just swirling a knife through the batter after the blueberry syrup has been added. So easy!
The inspiration:
This recipe is based off of my recipe for Low-Carb Strawberry Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake Recipe. I loved the cake in this recipe and feel that it complements fruity flavors well, without competing with them or overwhelming them. Since no food blog is complete without a blueberry coffee cake, I worked on this recipe and altered it to make this blueberry coffee cake.
I contemplated adding a crumb topping to make it more like the coffee cake my mother used to serve at her table, but I loved the look of the blueberry swirls so much that I couldn’t stand the thought of covering them up.
The story:
When I work on recipes, I generally make them in the afternoon because that’s when the light is best for taking photos at my house. I had planned on taste testing the first batch, then serving it for breakfast the next day. Unfortunately, not a single crumb of the cake was left for breakfast.
I made the cake a second time to get additional photos. I decided I would serve it for dessert that night and have the leftovers for breakfast. After I finished taking the photos, I guarded the cake from sneaky fingers and hid it so it wouldn’t disappear for dessert. Okay, I admit I had a piece, but nobody knew because I took it out of the baking dish and arranged it on a serving plate, so the missing piece was less obvious. Besides, it’s important to know what a coffee cake tastes like fresh from the oven, right?
Anyway, due to my hiding spot, (no, I’m not giving this one away) the cake managed to make it until dessert. Yet again, however, none lasted until breakfast. In any case, this low-carb blueberry almond flour coffee cake would make an awesome treat to enjoy with your morning coffee. Good luck with having it last that long! Enjoy!
-Annissa
Blueberries are one of my favorite low-carb fruits and this Low-Carb Blueberry Coffee Cake is wonderful way to enjoy them. 🍰😋
Low-Carb Blueberry Almond Flour Coffee Cake
This Low-Carb Blueberry Almond Flour Coffee Cake boasts swirls of blueberry goodness. This recipe starts the day on a sweet note, but can still be part of a low-carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, Atkins, diabetic, or Banting diet.
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Swirl:
- 3 tablespoons granulated erythritol/stevia blend
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
For the Cake Batter:
- 1 1/2 cup superfine almond flour
- 1/3 cup granulated erythritol/stevia blend
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil cut into large chunks
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon whisky (optional-may substitute an extra tablespoon of almond milk )
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Grease an 8" x 8" glass baking dish.
For the Blueberry Swirl:
In a small saucepan, whisk together the erythritol/stevia blend, and the xanthan gum.
Slowly add the water and the lemon juice while whisking. Stir in the blueberries. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat, then turn heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has the consistency of a thick blueberry syrup. (about 5-10 minutes) Set aside.
For the Cake Batter:
Place almond flour, granulated erythritol/stevia blend, baking soda, and sea salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Add the butter or coconut oil and pulse again to incorporate.
In a separate container (a large pourable liquid measuring cup works great for this), whisk together the almond milk, eggs, whiskey, and vanilla extract.
Slowly add the wet ingredients into dry mixture in the food processor, pulsing after each addition. Pulse a few more times until batter is smooth.
Transfer batter to the prepared baking dish. Spoon the blueberry syrup in stripes on top of the batter.
Using a butter knife, swirl the batter to create the desired pattern.
Bake in the preheated oven for 23-28 minutes. Top should spring back when lightly touched. Cut cake into 9 pieces. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 piece, (1/9th of the cake)
Per serving:
Total carbs (g): 4
Fiber (g): 1
Net carbs (g): 3
Hi, is it ok to use xylitol instead of stevia blend?
The cake looks super yummy, can wait to make it!
Cheers
Sure! You may need to use more xylitol. My blend is about twice as sweet as sugar and I believe xylitol is around the same sweetness as sugar, so maybe about twice the amount. Let me know how it goes!
-Annissa
It is delicious, Everybody loves it and it disappears before your very eyes
What is the amount of almond milk necessary for the wet ingredients. I see the option to use 1 tablespoon instead of whiskey but is that all the almond milk required for recipe?
Hi Amy,
It’s 1/4 cup of almond milk. Thanks!
-Annissa
Hi this looks so yum! How much almond milk is in the batter please? Couldn’t see measuremenr. Thank you!
It’s 1/4 cup of almond milk. Thanks!
-Annissa
I just picked 10 pounds of blueberries today. I went on line to find a recipe for my husband who is a type II diabetic and is really diciplined about not eatig sugars and keeping the carbs down. Oh my! This blueberry coffee cake is delicious. You were right..we could easily devour this in one sitting (two of us), but,we won’t! Thank you so much for sharing this. It is exactly what we’ve been looking for.
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I also have a recipe for Blueberry Cobbler that you might enjoy if you’re looking for more blueberry recipes.
-Annissa
Is there a simple substitute for xanthan gum? I don’t have any but want to try this.
Jennifer,
I think it could probably be left out of this recipe without making a huge difference. Xanthan gum is a substitute for gluten, so it helps hold in the bubbles as it rises. If you leave it out, it may not rise as much or hold together quite as well, but I don’t think it would be a huge problem.
-Annissa
Absolutely delicious cake! My husband has just recently started a low carb diet, and he loves his sweets so I’ve had to try a lot of different low carb dessert recipes. This one is amazing! He loved it, said it didn’t have any weird textures or after tastes, and it’s extremely easy to make. I had no lemon juice so I substituted vinegar and it still came out beautifully. I made it for a ladies lunch, and it was a huge hit.
Thanks so much! I really try to create foods everyone will love, whether they eat low-carb or not.
-Annissa
i only have vanilla unsweer almond milk can i use coconut milk
Vanilla unsweetened almond milk should work fine. It will just be a little more vanilla tasting. If you want, you can decrease the vanilla just a tad, but I don’t think you will need to.
-Annissa
I made this this morning and it’s in the oven. I used arrowroot in place of Xanthan. It looks so Yummy.
Hope you love it!
-Annissa
Can I use regular sugar or brown sugar instead and how much if it please.
Yes you can. You will want to double the amount of sugar as the sweetener I use is twice as sweet as sugar.
-Annissa
This recipe turned out amazing! Thank you for creating this masterpiece, Annissa!
Side note: I had heavy cream instead of almond milk and it is still A+. I’ve had three servings today and needed to make a strong effort not to have more.
Masterpiece? You are too kind! Glad the recipe was a success!
-Annissa
I don’t like using any kind of sweetner, but I did use a small drop of stevia in the cake batter. I also added poppy and chia seed. The syrup I didn’t add any sweetners. I used a mix of berries and it came out tasty. Reduced fruit has enough sugar in it. I’m so glad that I found this recipe because I don’t feel like egges and kale for breakfast every day.
Can you use regular milk instead of almond milk?
Yes, that should work fine. The nutritional values will change a bit.
I do not have a large enough food processor. Could I just use a beater attachment?
You will want to sift or whisk together the dry ingredients, melt the butter and whisk in. Whisk together the wet ingredients, then stir them into the dry ingredient/butter mixture. Everything else should be the same.
Best,
Annissa
Hi! The cake sounds amazing. But is there a way to substitute olive oil for butter or coconut oil? Thanks!
Robin, Olive oil will work fine in this recipe. It will add some olive oil flavor. Avocado oil would work well also and is very mild in taste.
-Annissa
Fabulous recipe…thank you! Really needed a sweet low-carb treat in my repertoire! So glad that I found your site.
I’m glad you found us! I have a lot of sweet treats on the blog to check out. Hope you enjoy them!
-Annissa
We made this during shelter-in-place because we couldn’t find flour at the stores! But luckily Costco had almond flour, monk fruit sugar, and frozen blueberries so we gave this a whirl. My husband usually turns his nose at “alternative” desserts but he loved it! Thank you for a fantastic recipe!
I substituted the lemon juice for apple cider vinegar and used 2% milk. I also substituted the guar gum for corn starch. I substituted the whisky for more milk. But it all turned out yummy!
Lots of substitutions are necessary these days! Thanks for sharing what you did as it helps other people out! Glad you enjoyed the coffee cake!
-Annissa
Absolutely AMAZING. This was dessert on Mother’s Day.If I knew where to post a picture I would show you.
I baked it in an 8″ cake pan – turned out perfectly!
Yay! If you’re on instagram, tag us in the photo and we’ll share it in our story.
-Annissa
Delicious! Just made this, and we loved it! I substituted grape seed oil for the butter and it turned out fine. Thanks for this great recipe that we’ll definitely be making again!
Good to hear!
Hi, I’m Canadian. Love booze in my recipes. But there are many varieties of whiskey. Do you mean Scotch, Rye whiskey or Bourbon?
Jennifer,
I just used what I had on hand–probably bourbon. Any of your suggestions will do the job. Use something you like, but I wouldn’t use super-expensive stuff in this recipe.
Annissa
My daughter cannot have almond. I used coconut oil and I tried using coconut flour. Had to add more liquid to improve batter consistency. Not recommended. Had to throw it out. 1) Can I use GF Cup to Cup flour or is that not fine enough? It has Xanthan gum in it, so I could leave that out. 2) Also can I use rice milk instead of almond milk? 3) I have packets of Stevia sweetener that says one packet is equal to 2 tsps. of sugar – it is not a blend so don’t know how much to use of it. 4) Instead of Stevia, how much sugar would be needed. Thank You in advance.
Hi Donna,
I recommend looking for a recipe that has been developed for the ingredients you want to use. Sometimes too much substituting can result in a disaster.
-Annissa
I have one of these sitting in the oven right now because I had exactly a cup of blueberries that needed to be used up. 🙂 Looks awesome so far, and can’t wait to try my first piece for breakfast tomorrow.
But, one thing that does puzzle me. Granted, different ingredients will cause a change in macros. But, it shouldn’t be a huge variation. However, I’m coming up with 181 kCal per slice after I put it in Cronometer! My fat grams are also nearly double. Carbs, Sodium and Cholesterol are very close to each other though.