This Keto Lemon Ricotta Cake is a soft buttery cake with a moist crumbs and delicious lemony flavor. It’s the perfect low carb dessert or even as a sweet bite for breakfast with a cup of coffee!

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Lemon Ricotta Cake
• What’s in Keto Lemon Ricotta Cake
• How to Make Ricotta Cake
• Do Ricotta Cakes need to be Refrigerated? How Long Can You Keep Ricotta Cake?
• Is Ricotta Keto-Friendly? How many Net Carbs are in Ricotta Cheese?
• Keto Ricotta Cake Recipe Tips
• Can You Eat Cake on a Keto Diet?
• More Keto Cake Recipes

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Lemon Ricotta Cake

• Moist and tender crumb texture like traditional cake
• Almond ricotta cake with bright lemon flavor
• Perfect for dessert, brunch or afternoon tea
• Gluten-free and low carb, with only 4 net carbs per slice

I can’t think of any flavor that welcomes in the spring and summer months more fresh lemons. I love to cook with lemon in savory dishes as well as sweet desserts. These Keto Mini Lemon Tarts and this Mascarpone Lemon Tart are two of my most popular desserts and are both so easy to make.

This summer, I wanted to create a new lemony dessert, and I think I've hit a homerun with this homemade Lemon Ricotta Cake recipe.

This recipe makes a gluten free, from scratch, Italian inspired low carb cake that uses ricotta to give it incredible moisture and wonderful texture. The lemon really brightens up the flavors and will make it a huge hit with all your friends and family.

One of the things you'll really enjoy about this cake, is that's not overly sweet like most cakes, making it perfectly acceptable, not only for a light dessert, but also for a quick breakfast, brunch or quick snack. And because this is a low carb lemon cake, you don't have to feel guilty when that sweet tooth hits.

What’s in Keto Lemon Ricotta Cake

• Super fine almond flour
• Oat fiber
• Ricotta cheese
• Monk fruit/allulose
• Butter
• Eggs
• Lemons
• Vanilla extract
• Baking powder
• Salt

*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.

How to Make Ricotta Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Add the almond flour, oat fiber, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.

Whisk together until well combined, then set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, add in the ricotta cheese, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, sweetener, lemon juice and zest.

Using a hand mixer, whip the wet ingredients until well combined.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and continue mixing, just until combined.

Pour the batter into a 9" springform pan or cake pan lined with parchment paper and smooth out using an offset spatula.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick, when inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before cutting into. 

Optional: top with powdered low carb sweetener, toasted sliced almonds and a few slices of lemon.

Do Ricotta Cakes need to be Refrigerated? How Long Can You Keep Ricotta Cake?

Unfrosted ricotta cake can be stored at room temperature for about 4 days as long as its wrapped well in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container.

Is Ricotta Keto-Friendly? How many Net Carbs are in Ricotta Cheese?

Ricotta cheese is an Italian cheese made from whey from sheep, cow, goats or buffalos and is a staple in a lot of people’s diet. But is it considered Keto? You bet! Ricotta, when eaten in moderation is just fine for any low carb diet.

Because it is slightly higher in carbs than some cheeses, you may not want to sit down and eat a whole bowl of it. For a ½ cup serving there are about 8 net carbs. But when used in desserts, Keto lasagnas or other recipes, it can be a great source of protein with very little carb impact.

For instance, this cake uses a whole cup of ricotta. When it’s spread out amongst the 10 servings, you’re only getting about 1.6-1.8 net carbs from the ricotta depending on the brand you use.

Keto Ricotta Cake Recipe Tips

How to Make it Fluffy

The key to this cake having a fluffy texture is to make sure you beat the ricotta with the sweetener and butter, before adding it to the dry ingredient. Take your time doing this and make sure you’re using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer when doing so.

Ricotta cakes, by nature, are a little more dense, just slightly lighter than pound cake texture. So, taking the time to whip air into the cheese mixture really makes a huge difference.  

Should I Use Part Skim Ricotta?

I prefer the full fat ricotta in this lemon cake recipe because it gives the cake extra richness. If you don’t have whole milk ricotta, you can use part skim and it will still be wonderful, but if you have the choice, go for full fat. In fat on a Keto diet, always go for full fat.

Can I Add Toppings to This Keto Ricotta Cake?

You sure can! Fresh berries, this Keto Lemon Curd, or homemade sugar free whipped topping are all great choices. I always like to garnish it with a fresh slice of lemon or some lemon zest when serving it to guests, so they'll have a hint of what flavor the cake is.

How to Keep My Cake from Crumbling

Just like most all gluten free baked recipes, this cake is quite fragile when it comes out of the oven. Make sure you leave the cake in the pan to cool completely before removing it.

Why is My Ricotta Cake Sticking to the Pan?

This cake is super moist because of the ricotta and the butter, so it has the tendency to stick to the pan. Make sure you line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. You may also want to take thin sharp knife and run it around the edges of the pan to help loosen up the cake a little.

Can You Eat Cake on a Keto Diet?

If you're on Keto or other low carb diet, then you know that traditional cake not considered low carb. For instance, a regular Lemon Ricotta Cake has between 35-40 grams of carbs per slice!

But, when baking on Keto, there are many great substitutions you can use that will allow you to enjoy cake and other desserts, on occasion, and still be able to keep your carb macros in check.

I wrote an article about Baking on Keto, that talks a lot about the very best tricks and tips for using Keto friendly products. Check it out and I think it'll help answer a lot of your Keto baking questions.

More Keto Cake Recipes

• Keto Lemon Curd Layer Cake
• Keto Chocolate Cake
• Keto Strawberry Shortcake
• Keto Pound Cake
• Keto Strawberry Lemonade Cake