A light and tasty cake as delicious as it is elegant.
When it comes to cake, some people like vanilla, and others like chocolate. Nothing wrong with that. But THEN there are the cake lovers who really think outside the box. By which I mean the literal cake mix box. Sorry (not sorry), but you won’t find this coconut blackberry cake in powdered, just-add-water form on any grocery store shelves. This unique cake is at once elegant and delicious, scoring major points in both flavor and presentation. This healthy, clean eating cake recipe has everything you want in a cake (including frosting) without all the other stuff you don’t.
Clean Eating and Coconut
Coconut is sort of a secret weapon when it comes to clean baking. Coconut oil, coconut flour, and coconut sugar all offer healthier alternatives to standard baking ingredients. For this reason, they often find their way into clean recipes, even ones that aren’t explicitly coconut-flavored.
In this coconut blackberry cake recipe, however, these clean ingredients get to achieve their full potential, adding some rich flavor to this decadent coconut blackberry cake.
This cake also features shredded coconut and, of course, fresh blackberries. These fresh, delicious ingredients help keep this cake rich, moist, and completely decadent. The blackberries also happen to give this cake a gorgeous, elegant appearance, so be ready to Instagram the heck out of it!
This recipe calls for almond extract, which adds a rich flavor to this unique cake that really complements the coconut and blackberries. However, if you’re looking to amp up the coconut flavor, feel free to add or swap in coconut extract. It’s a must for any serious coconut lovers.
Icing On The Cake
Honestly, with its rich flavors and fresh ingredients, this cake can definitely hold its own, sans frosting. However, most of us can agree that cake just isn’t cake without it.
Of course, as anyone with a sweet tooth knows all too well, frosting packs on sugar and calories. Fast.
Naked cakes have risen in popularity recently as a way to cut back on the sweet stuff. But, as a dedicated frosting lover, I’ve kept this cake semi-clothed with a healthy blackberry yogurt frosting. Made with Greek yogurt, honey, almond extract, lemon zest, and blackberries, this clean icing is a light and tasty way to dress up your cake.
To save calories, keep this cake scantily clad by only frosting the top of each layer, leaving the sides bare. This makes for a lighter dessert and an elegant presentation that shows off the beauty of this coconut blackberry cake.
At just 202 calories per slice, this delicious cake is a guilt-free treat perfect for any occasion. So you can have your cake, and even eat frosting too.
Coconut Blackberry Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 4 eggs large, separated
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup coconut unsweetened, finely shredded
- 1/2 cup blackberries fresh
For the Blackberry Yogurt Frosting
- 2 cups Greek yogurt plain
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3/4 cup blackberries fresh
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch cake pans with nonstick spray and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form set aside.
- In a second mixing bowl, combine together the coconut oil, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, and the egg yolks. Add the flour, almond extract, and baking soda and mix just until smooth. Stir in the shredded coconut until the flakes are well distributed throughout the batter.
- In a small bowl, combine the remaining coconut sugar and the blackberries. Lightly mash until the berries are only slightly chunky. Gently fold in the blackberries and whipped egg whites. Transfer the finished batter to the prepared cake pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely in the refrigerator before frosting.
For the Blackberry Yogurt Frosting
- Gently mix together the yogurt, honey, almond extract, and lemon zest in a medium mixing bowl. In a small bowl, mash the blackberries and add to the yogurt mixture and stir just until combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Gently frost one of the 9 inch cakes with the yogurt frosting and carefully place the second cake on top. Frost the top of the second 9 inch cake. Do not frost the sides. Refrigerate until ready to serve and after serving.
Nutrition Information
Have you made this recipe?
Tag @skinnyms on Instagram or hashtag it #skinnyms
Craving more dessert? Follow us on Pinterest and Instagram for clean recipes that will satisfy any sweet tooth.
This looks and sounds wonderful. Can’t wait to try it!
Can you use regular flour and frozen blueberries?
Frozen blueberries will work fine. However, you cannot substitute regular flour for coconut flour – they are very different and will have very different results!
The recipe only calls for1/4 cup of coconut flour. Does not seem enough for 2cakes.
Coconut flour is very different from other flours. The coconut flour in this recipe is the equivalent to about 1 cup of all purpose flour. You are more than welcome to adjust the recipe to your personal preferences. However, keep in mind adding additional coconut flour will most likely result in gummy and inedible cakes.
I tried to make this twice and both times ended in disaster. I don’t know where I went wrong. I don’t consider myself to be a beginner baker, but I have never worked with coconut flour, coconut oil, or coconut sugar before. The first time I attempted this recipe I think I over-folded the batter with the egg whites because the batter ended up extremely runny. I threw it out and started over. This time it looked much better but when I baked it, it didn’t rise at all, it looked like a sad, flat excuse of a cake that stuck to the oiled pan. It did taste good from what I ate of the scraps so I’m sad it didn’t turn out because I’m sure if done right it is delicious. Good flavor but I’ll never attempt again. I already wasted a lot of time and money on ingredients on this recipe. =(
Hi Ashley, sorry to hear your recipe didn’t turn out. This is definitely one of our more advanced recipes. The egg and coconut flour in this recipe are very temperamental and must be combined/mixed just right or the cake will not turn out. This is also more of a sponge cake recipe and will not turn out the same as a regular cake.
We very much hope you try one of the other many delicious cake recipes on our site!
Made the cake using blueberries instead of blackberries. Also used vanilla extract in place of the almond. I omitted all the lemon. Cake had a very good taste and texture. Next time I will whip the egg whites last. I did that first as instructed and can see the whipped egg whites starting to liquify if one doesn’t hustle with the rest of the recipe. Still, I will make this again and recommend it to all.