Fluffy and tender, this delicious low carb blood orange rum cake is super easy to make in your blender! Get it into the oven in just five minutes, and you can be enjoying a slice of this incredible low carb cake in less than an hour! The gorgeous blood orange glaze is optional but recommended!
These photographs are from February of last year, but because of our move to Belize I never got around to posting the recipe. By the time life had settled down and I was ready to get back to work, citrus season was over so I decided to wait on posting this one.
It wasn’t easy to hold off though, because this glazed blood orange rum cake is hand’s down one of the best cakes I’ve ever made! If not THE actual best. I kid you not.
Now you might be expecting that “the best low carb cake I ever made” recipe would come with a lengthy list of complicated instructions. Not so! I threw everything into the blender and that was it!
TRUE STORY.
Easy AND incredibly delicious? You guys know that’s my jam.
If you make this cake (and you definitely should), be prepared for the batter to be thick. It won’t pour, so you’ll have to spoon it out of the blender, which will be the most annoying part of making this cake.
Don’t be alarmed and send me a ton of emails (I beg you,) it’s supposed to be like that.
I used an old brioche pan that I bought at an antique shop for this blood orange rum cake, and it worked perfectly. You can also use a bundt pan, though the cooking time will likely be a few minutes less. Or if you don’t really care about looks you can do this in a 9 x 9 cake pan as well.
If you want the look of a brioche like mine, you can find a similar pan on Amazon. This silicone brioche pan has a nice pattern and the silicone will make it so much easier to get out. I was terrified before I unmolded my cake that it would stick, but thanks to A LOT of butter, it came out with no issues. Still – silicone is a good bet if you’re shopping around.
You can omit the blood orange glaze if you want – the cake is delicious on it’s own. But you’d be missing out on a key component in my opinion. If you can’t get blood oranges, regular orange juice will work – or even pink grapefruit if you want to switch it up a bit.
To get that pretty pink color without the blood orange, a drop or two of red food coloring will do the trick.
The dark rum in this low carb blood orange rum cake is also optional but recommended. The alcohol cooks out leaving behind rich caramel notes that perfectly complement the orange in this cake.
If you choose not to use real rum, you can find rum flavored extracts on Amazon or in the spice aisle of your grocery store that don’t contain alcohol but will mimic the flavor. See the recipe for quantities to use if you substitute.
As you can see, the texture of this low carb blood orange rum cake is LEGIT. Seriously. I couldn’t believe how fluffy it was. I really think the blender makes all the difference, though if you don’t have one you can certainly use a mixer.
A superfine almond flour is going to be key to your success here – an almond meal will not give you that same tender and fluffy texture. You can learn more about the products I currently use and recommend for best results over on the IBIH Pantry Page.
I’m always excited for you guys to try a recipe and report back, but this time even more so – I just know you’re going to L.O.V.E. this low carb orange rum cake! So if you make it, please let me know what you think in the comments!!!
Glazed Blood Orange Rum Cake – Low Carb
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
Description
A rich and tender low carb orange rum cake with a delicious blood orange glaze. Super easy, this cake can be made in the blender in minutes. Keto, Atkins, Gluten free.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated erythritol sweetener**
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour **
- 1/2 cup coconut flour **
- pinch salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk unsweetened
- 3 Tbsp gold rum (or 1 tsp rum flavoring)
- 1 tsp orange zest
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Swerve confectioners
- 1/4 cup fresh blood orange juice (or regular orange juice)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Combine all cake ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Grease 9 x 9 cake pan, bundt pan, 8 inch brioche pan or equivalent
- Spoon in batter and spread evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 40 (bundt or 9 x9) to 50 minutes (brioche) or until a knife comes out clean.
- Cool and remove gently from the pan.
For the glaze:
- Combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.
- Stir well until smooth and pour over the top.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
**Get more information about the low carb products I use and recommend on the IBIH Pantry Page!
- Category: Low Carb Dessert Recipe
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/9 of cake
- Calories: 262
- Fat: 22g
- Carbohydrates: 4g net
- Protein: 7g
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Laura says
The recipe looks great, but can you please give the amounts for almond and coconut flour in grams? In Europa we don’t use cups, and the conversion tools give very different amounts (I found 1/2 cup coconut flour as 56 grams, 120 grams, and everything in between. Idem for almond flour).
Carla Hamlet says
I really want to make this cake. I can’t have coconut. Can I sub out the coconut flour for the same amount in the almond flour? I know coconut flour is more absorbent.
Heidi says
This. She is DELICIOUS!!! If only I can figure out a way to make it not stick to my Bundt pan. Nevertheless I iced it and ate it even though it looked like a train wreck LOL! Super easy and great flavor
Mellissa Sevigny says
Sorry you didn’t have success with this one Meg – I’ve made it many times with good results, maybe if your bundt pan is older and the coating is compromised that could be causing the sticking? That being said, there is certainly nothing wrong with making this in a regular cake pan and parchment paper is always a good idea to line it!
Jo says
I will be making this for my adult son’s birthday. He loves blood oranges and we are all trying to live low carb. I am a big fan of your recipes. You mentioned you moved to Belize, are you loving it? What town? We love it there. But, it is a big step.
kaylie says
if i dont have blood oranges(out of season) but I have blood orange extract, how much extract do I use in the frosting? and do I add water to get it to the thick but not clumpy texture?
Claudia U says
I baked this cake for Father’s Day yesterday and it was really good. I did not have almond flour so I sub with coconut flour. I used Orange Liquor instead of rum and lemon extract since I didn’t have orange extract. It’s all about subbing when you don’t have all the ingredients. I was very pleased with the end product and my husband loved it. The perfect bite not too sweet. Mine was a bit crumbly but since I used a bundt cake it was not high but nevertheless I really enmjoyed this recipe. I will make it again and again
Karen says
Perfect summertime dessert!
Joey says
Can I substitute more orange zest for the orange extract? I couldn’t find the extract at whole foods today and I need to bake this today. I can always use vanilla, but I really want the orang flavor to come through as you’ve written it. Thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny says
yes that will probably work!
Dee says
Thank you for this recipe! It was amazing. I divided the batter into 9 cupcakes and baked for 30 mins. Came out perfectly and saved me from trying to cut a cake into 9 even pieces!
Nidia says
I have been making this cake since March, and it always comes out delicious, the last two cake I’ve had to throw out, I can’t figure what the problem is, I mix all ingredients in the blender, but the cake comes out mushy, HELP.
Joesy Fuda says
Amazing cake, made last week and since have made it everyday as requested by family and friends. No glaze as not needed was delicious as is. The best cake I have ever had and made. I normally make only chocolate desserts and my mother in law wanted me to make a rum cake. Found your recipe put everything in a processor and voila, excellent ???. Only one small problem, my family eats too much of it lol☺️
Georganna says
Hello! I cannot wait to try this cake. I’m having trouble finding xanthan gum. Is there an alternative?
Jenny Mazock says
I couldn’t find xantham gum anywhere. Finally looked on Amazon and bingo! Being a prime member it arrived in two days.
Patti Eaton says
I have made this cake three times and it has become my husband’s and daughter’s new favorite! I bought an 8″ brioche pan and the first time I made the cake, 50 minutes was not nearly long enough for it to bake – it was mushy in the middle. The second time I made it, it had to bake about 65-70 minutes (covered with foil the last 10 minutes to keep the top from burning), but it turned out perfectly after the extra baking time – very moist and not dry at all. I’m not sure why it took the extra baking time – maybe the brioche pan?? I’ve made the glaze before, but both my husband and my daughter prefer the cake plain – they just love the taste/texture of it, and it’s the perfect “snack” cake! Now my husband wants to know if I can convert the TastyKake Butterscotch Krimpet recipe to low carb….I said, “No, but maybe Melissa can!” Have you ever heard of TastyKake Butterscotch Krimpets and/or converted the recipe to low carb? Thanks again for all your hard work on these recipes…this is my go-to site!
Mellissa Sevigny says
I’ve never heard of butterscotch krimpets but I’m going to look it up and see what I can do! ;)
Patti Eaton says
Thank you, Melissa!
S says
Butterscotch Krimpets are made by Tastycake. I grew up outside of Philadelphia, our brand of snack cakes and pies like Little Debbie’s but different.
nidia says
Made the cake, outstanding, can it be made in a food processor? My blender is old. Thank you for all your recipes.
Cami Valenzuela says
This sounds so good. My boys would love this as well. Love that it is low carb as well.
Karen says
Made this and it is mushy, hope it sets up as it cools. Baked it for 50 mins in a bunts pan
Ness says
I am so excited to make this beautiful cake for my daughter’s birthday! I don’t usually have almond milk on hand–do you think soy milk would be okay or might it affect the taste or texture too much? Or maybe cow’s milk?
Amy says
Hi and thanks for all the great recipes. They make managing diabetes sooo much easier, much less insulin!
Anyway, I would love to make this for a dinner party but don’t have xantham gum and am a bit leery of it. Can I replace with pysillium? Something else?
Thank
Amy
Kelly says
I just made it tonight and my cake didn’t rise at all. It was dense like a brownie.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Did you forget the baking powder or is your baking powder old?
adriana says
looks so good.
Maya | Wholesome Yum says
This sounds absolutely delicious! I love how pretty it looks too!
JE Weck says
Made this today. it was quick, easy and delicious. Came out of the pan easy, didn’t break and like you said… tender. I took it to a party put a tag that said gluten free and left it at that. It all went! Thanks for a great recipe.
Sherri Lindsey says
This looks MAGNIFICENT!! Oh my stars, I am going to have a piece of cake and stay fully faithful to my keto WOE!! Thank you so much. <3
Barbara Locasale says
Omg. This is one of the best lc cakes I’ve made in my 6 years low carbing. And it was so easy. I have missed the old rum cake of years past so when I saw this I thought wonder if I could use it for that. Oh yes it worked. I used a bundt pan sprayed with the baking spray and placed chopped pecans in the bottom. I made the cake exactly as written. Poured batter over the nuts and baked exactly 40 minutes. While the cake baked I made my lc rum sauce; butter, sweetener, water, and rum simmered until thickened. Cake came out, cooled 20 minutes, removed from pan, forked the nut topping and poured the glaze on. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I now have my rum cake back.
Mellissa Sevigny says
That’s so awesome to hear Barbara! I love the pecans idea, totally going to try your version!!!
Vic says
Too soft it’s falling apart
Lisa says
This. This is the answer to my cake-loving prayers! I didn’t have any rum on hand, so I subbed almond extract and left out the orange as I thought the zest would impart enough of the flavor. I had also just run out of Swerve, so I used plain old erythritol (just added more as the measurement equivalents stated). This is a keeper! Oh – a word to the wise: don’t try to mix this using a Ninja – it doesn’t mix properly. I ended up pouring everything into my KitchenAid mixer.
Morgan says
I’m so in love with this pan! I got all of the ingredients to make it this weekend. I’m pumped! Thanks for all of your perfect recipes.
Jane says
I made this also with a couple of changes. I used coconut extract as I had no orange. Figured I may as well continue on that theme so I added 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut and 1/4 cup chopped pecans. I tasted the batter after adding just 2 TB of rum and that was plenty for me. I’m a lightweight when it come to alcohol, lol. No glaze was needed. The texture of this cake is perfect! I will use it for all my low carb cake needs from now on as it is so easy to adapt. I also used an old Duncan Hines Tiara cake pan I have from forever ago and it worked perfectly. Thanks for all your great recipes!
healthybaker says
If I use round cake pans what size would I need to get 2 layers?
Mellissa Sevigny says
If you want to make this as a layer cake, you can either do a small one in two 6 inch pans – or I recommend doubling the recipe and making it in 9 inch pans!
Jessohhh says
I made this yesterday, with a few changes. I’m personally not a fan of citrusy baked goods… BUT the texture of this cake is something I’m a huge fan of! So I decided to switch out the orange elements for almond extract. For the glaze I used the same almond milk the cake recipe calls for, and I put vanilla extract in both the cake and the glaze. It smelled heavenly, tasted amazing, except the almond extract was almost too much, next time I’ll try less of almond and more of vanilla. I’ll definitely make it again, for sure. Thanks for such and awesome textured cake recipe!!!
Jessohhh says
Also, the texture really made me think of pound cake. So decadent and delicious! Makes me want to try a chocolate glazed version
Kalenda R Adams says
This is a delicious gluten free cake! Actually moist! I had trouble with the glaze, it wasn’t creamy like the picture, mine just disappeared into the cake. Did anybody else have that problem? What did I do wrong? I give it 5 stars because I’m assuming the glaze was my fault. Still amazing!
Farah says
Yum! Made it tonight in two tiny bundt pans. The flavor and texture are great! Thank you for the wonderful recipes!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Glad it was a hit Farah, thanks for letting me know!
Barbo Gold says
Wish you would have answered my questions regarding this delicious Cake?
Mellissa Sevigny says
I made this in my vitamix and ran it for about a minute. Not sure why it wasn’t fluffy – were you using superfine almond flour? If the coconut flour was a dense grind that could also have made a difference. Or if you used extra large eggs. It’s really hard for me to say why your cake came out dense and not fluffy. Glad it tasted good though.
Heather Tinsley says
I only have powdered Swerve on hand. Will that work or should I just order granulated?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Should work fine but you may need to reduce the amount slightly since it packs firmer than the granulated.
Heather Tinsley says
Thanks!
Beth says
Would my nutribullet be large enough to process this batter?
Lisa says
Beth – I tried it and it didn’t work. I mixed everything in my KitchenAid and it came out fine.
Amanda Mendell says
I just made this and had to use a regular orange and spiced rum (that’s what I had on hand).
I was a little eager to get it out of the pan and glaze it, so it stuck To the pan a bit. OH MY GOODNESS! I scraped the bits of and added a few drops of glaze, seriously so good!!!
Thank you and I love using the blender, so much more convenient.
It won’t let me rate it 5 stars, but that’s what I give it!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks so much Amanda! Glad you enjoyed it!
Joan Schmidman says
I’m one of those people who really can’t stand the taste of non sugar sweeteners. I’d love to be able to make this cake, any suggestions?
Mellissa Sevigny says
I really don’t. It’s make it with non sugar sweetener – or make it with sugar. You can do that if you don’t have an issue with carbs – same quantities as the granulated sweetener.
Emily says
This cake was so good! The texture was amazing! Even my husband, who is very skeptical of low carb baking, enjoyed it!
Regarding alternatives to non-sugar sweetener—when baking, I use a mix of two sweeteners. It means you might have to taste the batter to see if it is sweet enough, but by putting say Stevia and Splenda together, the aftertaste of either one is less detectable (LESS detectable, but not gone). Anyway, it’s worth a try!
Jenessa Hall says
This is the first dessert I’ve made that I really couldn’t tell it was not sweetened with sugar. I made it for my daughter’s first birthday and we had some friends over who have previously tried my sugar-free zerts and hated them, haha. They didn’t know this was sugar free and couldn’t tell. So maybe you should try it! I followed the recipe exactly except that I used a mix of ZSweet and Xyla and a tiny bit of Stevia. ZSweet is erythritol and Xyla is xylitol. I have discovered that using 1 part Xyla and 3 parts ZSweet gives me no aftertaste. I also added less than 1/8 tsp of stevia powder because I wanted it just a little sweeter. Good luck! Maybe play around with sweetener combinations to find what works for you and gives you no aftertaste!
Denise Twum says
I was just about to make you almond crescent cookies. I guess it’s a keto baking night! Thank you for sharing this. Looks delicious!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Cake AND cookies?!? What time should I come over!? Ha ha!
Denise Twum says
Teeheehee. In about an hour?
Mellissa Sevigny says
I’m outside – I slept on your porch, hope that’s ok. Is there coffee?!?!? ?
Denise Twum says
I finally made the cake, no glaze (as I was in a hurry)! Oh gosh so soft and delicious!
Peggy says
This looks amazing. Does it rise alot in the pan? Want to make in mason half pint wide mouth jars for individual servings and don’t want them to overflow.
Melissa says
Oh my, this looks tasty!
Jan says
Oh yum!! I don’t have rum or rum extract, but I do have maple… I might have to try maple orange till I get the rum/extract! Thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny says
I don’t know how I feel about the maple idea – might be weird but let me know if you try it! I’d recommend vanilla extract instead if you have that in the house! Either way, I hope it works out for you!
Anne C says
Looks soft and yummy!
Julissa alcantar says
I used orange liquor as I didn’t have rum! still excellent. Also I made into small loaves to ensure I stick to the serving size! thanks for the great recipe!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Wow! That was fast! Must be a record ha ha! Glad it worked out, the orange liqueur is a good idea, might try that on my next one too!
Deborah says
Oh my goodness…this looks OUTSTANDING! I normally roll my eyes a bit at readers who have not yet made the recipe that choose to comment on it, but THIS is really stunning. Will definitely be making this one over the weekend when I have time to do it justice. The antique tin you found was just perfect. Really really lovely. Looking forward to giving this recipe the rating I am guessing it deserves as soon as I put the fork down.
Deondra says
Would stevie or truvia work instead of erythritol
Mellissa Sevigny says
Any granulated sweetener that measures cup for cup like sugar should work, but I can’t guarantee the results will be the same. Let us know how it comes out if you try it though!
Sonja says
Could I use Swerve in the cake batter instead or erythritol sweetener? Thanks.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Swerve IS erythritol sweetener, and that’s what I used so it would work well!
Sonja says
Thanks!