Fluffy, moist, refreshing: this low-fat sugar-free lemon cake is the perfect summer cake for those who like to snack calorie-consciously!
Hello everyone!
Today's recipe is a sugar-free, low-calorie, and low-fat lemon cake, that is still super delicious and loved by our readers. Have a look and enjoy making it!
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Taste and Occasion
Well, you can't probably compare this low-calorie lemon cake to the "regular" lemon cake. But, after all, it is a lemon cake without sugar and fat.
I especially like the fluffy and compact consistency. The lemon intensity is just perfect for me. The light yogurt frosting gives the lemon cake an excellent finish. Only the very light color is a bit unusual. Regular lemon cakes, like this classic Lemon Cake Recipe, look rather yellowish.
Because my low-calorie lemon cake recipe comes without egg yolk, margarine and household sugar, the cake is as good as white. Looks delicious anyway, right 😉 …?
Ingredients
Instead of huge amounts of sugar, butter, and eggs, the dough includes low-fat Greek yogurt, beaten egg whites, and xylitol or erythritol. The result is amazingly delicious 😉!
To bake this low-fat sugar-free lemon cake, it is important that the ingredients are fresh. So be sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice as well as freshly grated lemon zest! You will notice the difference in taste compared to ready-made products. Especially since the packaged lemon juice and zest often contain other or additional ingredients than just "pure" lemon.
I use low-fat Greek yogurt to make the lemon cake low-fat and still tasty. It's pretty compact and not comparable to regular low-fat yogurt, which is slightly watery.
How to make the Low-Fat Sugar-Free Lemon Cake
Let's get started with this fruity and low-calorie cake. First of all, preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C, line a small springform pan with baking paper, or lightly grease and dust with flour. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff and set aside.
Now, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, milk, and melted butter. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest, and sweetener in another bowl and add them to the liquid ingredients. Stir in briefly but vigorously.
Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites. In the end, pour the batter into the pan, smooth out and bake the cake for 25-35 minutes. It will remain very light white. Let the cake cool down and spread with frosting. For this, mix the yogurt with lemon juice and sweetener to taste.
Top Tip
To sweeten the lemon yogurt cake, I advise you to use a mixture of xylitol and erythritol. If you only use erythritol or xylitol, you might get a too cool aftertaste or digestive problems 😉.
Variations
Well, have you now also got as much desire for lemony recipes as I? Fortunately, I have a lot up my sleeve. If you want to stay in the healthy section, then take a look at my gluten-free lemon cake with almonds. For vegans, I have a really delicious vegan lemon cake.
But there are plenty of classic Lemon Cakes too. Have you tried the classic lemon sheet cake recipe? Or, if you want to try something new, head over to the lemon coconut cake with yogurt and the wonderfully moist poppy seed lemon cake.
Recipe Card
Low-Fat Sugar-Free Lemon Cake
Equipment
- Small Springform Pan (8 in/20 cm)
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 egg whites, medium
- 1 pinch salt
- 150 grams (¾ cup) Greek yogurt 0.2% fat, e.g. from Fage
- 80 milliliters (⅓ cups) freshly squeezed lemon juice, from about 2 lemons
- 100 milliliters (7 tablespoons) milk
- 25 grams (2 tablespoons) melted butter, alternatively oil
- 200 grams (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- grated lemon peel of one organic lemon
- 50 grams (6 tablespoons) xylitol
- 50 grams (⅓ cups) erythritol
For the frosting
- 200 grams (1 cups) Greek yogurt 0.2% fat, e.g. from Fage
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, or xylitol/erythritol, amount to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Line a small springform pan with baking paper or lightly grease and dust with flour. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff. Set aside.
- Whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, milk and melted butter. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and sweetener. Add to the liquid ingredients and stir in briefly but vigorously. Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites.
- Pour batter into the smooth out and bake the cake for 25-35 minutes. It will remain very light white. Let cool and spread with frosting. For this, mix yogurt with lemon juice and sweetener to taste.
Ingredient substitutions
About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
Hello, what is the calories/nutrition for this cake?
Hi Roberta
thanks for your comment - I've updated the recipe and now you see the nutrition values.
best
Jan
It says soda and baking soda. What is the other soda?
Baking Soda is a part of soda (you may know it also as „baking powder“?) If it‘s not available in your region, 1 tsp of baking soda should work, too.
I see the nutritional value, but it just says 1 piece. How many servings per recipe and how big of a piece? Or I can just say the whole cake is one piece for 175 calories. Also what kind of milk did you use to get the calorie breakdown. It just says milk.
Hi, the cake makes about 8 pieces.
You can use either low fat milk, whole milk, soy milk or whatever kind you like most.
can a different sugar substitute be used instead of the xylitol?
You can also use only erythritol instead of xylitol and erythritol, but the taste may change slightly. A nice alternative would also be Monk Fruit Sweetener.
Hi, can I use stevia powder as my sweetener?
Yes, that should work
The cake we made was horrible. The cake was brown with an inner gummy taste. Can you please tell me if thats what its supposed to look and taste like?
I'm sorry the recipe didn't work for you. The cake is definitely not brown, as you can see in the pictures. Maybe you accidentally changed something in the recipe or made it differently than I did? Actually, the cake is nice and fruity and moist. It can actually get a little bit gummy (but only a bit) under some circumstances. This is often automatically the case with cakes that are extremely low in fat.