Clara (my youngest), just turned 2. For her birthday, I wanted to make her a healthy-ish layered birthday cake that looks beautiful, tastes amazing, and is refined sugar free. I had never made a layered cake before, but I’m so happy with how this cake turned out. I decorated with flowers and fresh fruit. It’s a pretty, rustic and elegant dessert. It requires a few steps (the cake layers, the jam filling and the buttercream filling), but I’d still say it’s an easy cake to make.
Layers: Almond Flour & other Good-for-You Ingredients
One thing I absolutely love about this healthy-ish layered birthday cake (aside from the taste and how pretty it is), is the fact that the layers are made with healthy ingredients. They’re primarily made with almond flour, which has such a wonderful taste. I have a weakness for baked goods made with almond flour. No refined sugar. Instead, I used organic pure maple syrup to sweeten. A little coconut oil as the healthy fat. A couple eggs, baking soda, salt and (optional) lavender infused water. And you’ve got yourself a simple, pretty healthy set of cake layers. I used Sweet Laurel Bakery’s Lavender Cake recipe to make the cake layers.
Homemade Blackberry Jam, thickened with Chia Seeds
For the blackberry jam filling, I adapted Bianca Zapatka’s recipe for her Strawberry Lemon Cake with Blackberry Jam (Vegan). She makes the most beautiful cakes, and my decor was definitely inspired by her. In my version, I used honey instead of white sugar, as I love the taste, and just prefer natural sweeteners in general. Also, instead of using cornstarch, I used chia seeds to thicken the jam. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it really did. What a bonus to get some healthy chia seeds into the cake!
Strawberry and Cream Cheese ‘frosting’
The ‘frosting’ or buttercream is rather decadent but it can be further ‘healthified’. I adapted the cream cheese frosting recipe from Bianca Zapatka’s Strawberry Lemon Cake with Blackberry Jam (Vegan). She suggests using refrigerated coconut milk as a good alternative to cream cheese. I’ll try it next time. This time around though, I used cream cheese and it was delicious. It never occurred to me to grind freeze dried strawberries (a snack I routinely buy for my kids at Trader Joe’s). It forms a light red powder, which, stirred in with cream cheese looks gorgeous and pink. In stead of sugar to sweeten, I used honey. Next time, I’ll use half (or less) of the recommended butter as I suspect it doesn’t need a whole cup to taste amazing.
Baking the healthy-is cake layers
I made four layers for this cake, but you could absolutely make less. 2 or 3 layers would be great. At first, I thought I might be able to bake two layers, and cut each one in half, however the almond flour layers are too thin and fragile for that. Because I only have two 9-inch round baking pans, I doubled the recipe, and cooked two batches, one after the other (which was a little more time consuming of course). I suggest cutting out a piece of parchment paper and greasing the baking pan first, so the parchment sticks to the pan. This will make it so much easier to remove the cake from the pan when it’s done.
Healthy-ish Layered Birthday Cake (refined sugar free)
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 cake
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
Description
Healthy-ish layered birthday cake. Layers made of almond flour and other good-for-you-ingredients. Fillings: Homemade blackberry jam and strawberry buttercream. Great for kids and adults. Delicious. Decorate with fresh fruit and flowers and the cake is beautiful – looks like rustic elegance.
Ingredients
For 2 cake layers (I made 4 layers for this cake)
4 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
½ cup organic 100% pure maple syrup
¼ cup lavender tea (soak lavender buds in 1/4 cup water 10 mins & strain) (optional); if you don’t have lavender, just use ¼ cup water instead.
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Blackberry Jam
18 oz fresh blackberries
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Strawberry Buttercream
3/4 cup freeze dried strawberries, ground (I got mine from Trader Joe’s)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons melted honey
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Toppings (decor)
beautiful flowers
4 fresh strawberries
4 fresh blackberries
Instructions
For cake layers
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9” cake pans and lime with parchment. Stir dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and pink salt) in a bowl & wet ingredients (eggs, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, lavender tea and vanilla extract) in another bowl. Then combine. Place batter in cake pans. Cook 25 mins. Let cool. For four layers, repeat.
For the jam
In a saucepan over medium low heat, stir blackberries, lemon juice, and water for 15 minutes. Place in a bowl and stir in 1 TBSP chia seeds to thicken. Let rest and cool.
For the buttercream
In a small bowl, use a fork to stir together softened butter and cream cheese. Grind freeze dried strawberries and add to the bowl. Stir in lemon juice and melted honey.
To assemble
Assemble on cake stand or platter. Start with a cake layer, followed by jam, and then buttercream. Repeat. The top layer only has buttercream. Refrigerate 3-4 hours. Decorate with fresh fruit and flowers.
Notes
- Cake layer recipe from Sweet Laurel Bakery’s Lavender Cake.
- Fillings recipe adapted from Bianca Zapatka’s Strawberry Lemon Cake with Blackberry Jam (Vegan). Decor inspired by her as well.
Keywords: Cake, Birthday Cake, Layered Cake, Kid-Friendly Cake, Kid-Friendly, Healthy Cake, Healthy, Dessert
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