I love fruit.
All fruit… seriously, there isn’t a fruit I don’t like… except maybe cantaloupe.. (nobody likes poor cantaloupe), but if I HAD to pick a favorite… it would be berries.
Yes, I know, “berries” includes a lot of different types, but frankly I just can’t narrow it down to just one berry, I love them all!
I LOVE when berries are in season, and they just taste so fresh and flavorful! I’ll put berries in my breakfast..in or on pancakes, oatmeal… I’ll use them in salads at lunch, or mash them to use as a sauce over fish or chicken at dinner… and of course, I’ll have berries for dessert!
For this delicious little coffee cake, I used the wonderful strawberry.
I made this cake for Mother’s Day a couple weeks ago… you may remember me teasing you with a little pic on the Facebook page!
When my sister asked me to bring a dessert for Mother’s Day, I knew I wanted to use almond flour (as I had recently got some in the batch of goodies sent to me from iHerb.com), and of course, as usual, I wanted to keep the dessert as healthy as possible, made with whole, unrefined ingredients, and still be full of flavor!
I had just bought a big batch strawberries that were just waiting to be thrown into something delicious. So that was that … almond flour and my beloved (straw)berries it would be!
I perused the blogosphere for some inspiration, and I came across this beautiful recipe from an equally beautiful blog – The Roost Blog (**update: unfortunately this blog no longer exists, and I’ve had to delete the link).
A Brown Butter Strawberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Cream. Yum! And… it used almond flour! Bingo!
Unfortunately I am not nearly experienced enough in my baking abilities to make a beautiful layered cake covered in a dreamy looking meringue cream, so I decided to healthify and simplify, and adapted the recipe to make my version!
I decided to omit the meringue cream and keep the cake as one simple layer of yum… and although the “brown butter” sounded delicious, I decided to switch out the butter for a healthier fat option, my dear extra virgin coconut oil!
Almond flour, which makes the base of this cake, is high in protein, low in carbs, and low in natural sugars. So it was a great option for a dessert cake that tastes indulgent but doesn’t spike blood sugar levels at the same time!
Almond flour also contains healthy unsaturated fats which helps to keep the cake very moist!
No dry, chalky cake here!
The Almond Flour Strawberry Cake got a big thumbs up at our Mother’s Day gathering… and it definitely gets an A+ from me in the very-simple, anyone-can-do-it, baking department!
If you have been searching for a grain-free/gluten-free whole foods, summery, berry-filled, delicious cake to wow your family and friends… here it is!
Now, because I only slightly adapted the recipe from the Roost Blog I will send you over there to get the recipe for this delicious cake! See below how to adapt it as I did! (update: I’ve had to delete this link as the blog no longer exists, and neither does the original recipe, sorry!).
*To make it as I did in my version, omit the meringue, and substitute the butter with coconut oil (I used only 2 tablespoons, not 4). The coconut oil should be at room temperature in liquid form, and it is added to the other wet ingredients in the recipe. Skip the first step with the butter all together and just add the coconut oil in place of the “brown butter”. Voila! Cake, cake, cake!
Have a wonderful Monday!
Christal
Nutrition in the Kitch
I would love to have the recipe for the almond flour strawberry cake. can you send it to me. I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Hey Josephine- there’s a link in the post that will take you right to it! 🙂
Hmmm.. it might be too dense for cupcakes! It’s a pretty ‘heavy’ cake if that makes sense, because of the almond flour!
Could you email me the recipe pleaaase? It’s no longer available at the link you posted!
Shoot! I don’t have it!! I’m sorry they took it down! 🙁
I made this recipe and as a pretty inept baker, I have to say it came out pretty well. This is my first foray and indeed, taste, of completely wheat-free baking. My dad randomly got me a batch of almond and coconut flour because he knows I’m into healthy eating but I’ve never experienced these flours before so I can’t tell how much of my result was due to me, and how much is the flour itself.
THE GOOD: The recipe is pretty easy. I don’t know if my blender was up to the challenge of mixing it, but it worked well in the end. It tasted nice but it was a little smoky (may be the cooked honey flavor) and also tasted a little like a fluffy strawberry stuffed pancake. Not bad at all, just different and unusual. Very moreish!
THE BAD: The recipe came out a little greasy, again not sure if that’s because of the flour, or my enthusiastic greasing of the pan. Also, everyone agreed that it could have been sweeter. So maybe next time, I’ll add a little more honey OR will give the swiss meringue icing a go.
All in all, I’ll defintely make this again. Delish!!! And strangely buttery, even though there’s no butter in this.
Hi Mimi! The “buttery-ness” was likely because almond flour actually contains fat because it is derived from almonds which naturally contain a lot of oils! Thank you so much for the great feedback, I’m glad you overall enjoyed it! I tend to have less of a sweet tooth than most, so my idea of sweet seems to commonly be less than others! I always forget this when making recipes for baking!! 🙂 Additional honey would definitely do the trick! 🙂
I prefer grassfed butter as a healthier choice (for me) than coconut oil, partly because I live in a climate where cows & grass do really well and coconuts don’t grow here. 🙂 Anyhow, thank you for the recipe!
Hey Angie! I think that’s great! It’s true, if you can get good quality, local grass fed butter you are lucky!! 🙂 And by all means, you should use it!! It would taste delicious in this recipe!
Strawberry cake is perfect for this time of year. Love the idea to use almond flour!
Thanks Kristin! Yes, it turned out beautifully with the almond flour and strawberries! 🙂
I’m surprised that as a nutrititionist you believe that (at least for baking…but I would argue even beyond that) olive oil is HEALTHIER than butter. (FALSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) For one thing, we should consider smoke point. Olive oil has a low smoke point and when fats get heated above their smoke point (which would be the case here), they break down and create free radicals; unstable molecules that damage cells and cell membranes, and are associated with the development of conditions like atherosclerosis and cancer. For baking/cooking of any kind, it is best to use saturated fats which have high smoke points (i.e. lard, ghee, coconut). Olive oil is best used as dressing (thus never allowing it to get heated…) Also, there is so much unsactioned fear over saturated fear…It’s really too bad…
Hi Zosia…. I didn’t say olive oil at all? I said extra virgin coconut oil. Which is what I used… coconut oil.
You must have misread what I wrote.
Yum!! This cake looks fantastic!! What a great idea to use healthy (and tasty 😉 almond flour! I’m sure this recipe also works with other fruits… 🙂
xox Amy
Totally! I would love to make a version of this using fresh peaches! YUM! Summer fruits are awesome!