Hello healthy food lovers! It has been a while since I upload a new recipe and I am back with a rather delicious one… I love packing in fruity flavours to my cakes to add as much nutritional value to them as possible. This healthy (and vegan) blueberry and lemon cake was seriously popular with my friends and family so I just had to share it with you guys!
I used a mix of whole wheat self raising flour, wholemeal spelt flour and coconut flour- adding absolutely no sugar to this recipe! I used 2 tablespoons of flaxseed as they are a great source of essential fatty acids. I also packed this vegan cake with deliciously juicy blueberries because as well as being an antioxidant for the body, they help protect our brains from oxidative stress. Furthermore, they have been suggested to help reduce the effects of memory loss as we get older. Follow the link below for more information regarding the benefits blueberries can have on our brains: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9029332
I have always loved blueberry and lemon together as I think the flavours compliment each other so beautifully.
I used two lemons for this recipe as it provides quite a few health benefits…
- Lemons are rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants
- They support a healthy functioning immune system
- They are great for skin health
- They’re also a source of potassium and can help lower blood pressure levels
I added my chia seed jam to this recipe as it just adds that little bit more nutrition to it- more fruits and more ‘heart friendly’ ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of wholemeal self-raising flour
- 1 cup of wholemeal spelt flour
- 1/2 cup of coconut flour
- 2 flaxseed eggs ( 1 tablespoon of flaxseed to 3 tablespoons of water)
- 2 cups of almond milk (or plant based milk of your choice)
- 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (extra for greasing cake tin)
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 2 tablespoons of agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons of chia seed jam
- 1 lemons (for zest and juice)
- 1 cup of blueberries (I used fresh for this recipe but you can also use frozen)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcuis and line a cake tins with coconut oil
- In a bowl, mix the flours and and baking soda.
- Prepare the flaxseed eggs in a small separate bowl, mixing one tablespoon of flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water (times 2). Leave to one side.
- In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil (melted), almond milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract and agave nectar and gradually add to the dry ingredients.
- Then mix in the flaxseed eggs.
- Grate the zest of 1 or 2 lemons (depending on zesty you want the flavour to be- I used 2!) and add to the mixture. Fold in the lemon zest and add the blueberries. Then squeeze in about 1/3 of a cup of fresh lemon juice and stir in the chia seed jam. Once the mixture is well combined, pour the mixture into one of the prepared cake tin.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes and allow to cool completely before icing.
For the icing (optional)
To add more of a sweetness to your cake, you can add an iced lemon glaze that will finish it off nicely- mix together-
- 2 cups of powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon of water (may add more depending on the consistency you want)
You can keep this cake fresh by refrigerating it in a container for up to 5 days.
You can also check out my blueberry and vanilla vegan cake and stay up to date with more of my delicious plant based recipes via my instagram.
Enjoy! SHK x
