Lemon Cake with Blueberry Chia Jam

Hints of vanilla and lemon with a fluffy and soft textured cake, paired with a blueberry chia jam and vanilla frosting. This naturally sweetened Lemon Cake is made with whole food ingredients, like date sugar, oats, and cashew butter, helping to pack in the health promoting ingredients while enjoying something sweet. What’s so special about date sugar compared to cane sugar? Date sugar is just pulverized dates! So it’s actually just a fruit, that’s been pulverized into a sugar, yet retains its benefits as a whole food.

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Make this cake as a single layer cake or double it if you are feeling extra fancy. Cashew Icing or a Sweet Potato Frosting are both a perfect addition to this delicious dessert.

I have spent some time perfecting the texture of my cake recipes- and am so proud of how this has come out! It will be more dense than a traditional cake that is made with white flour, due to the nature of the ingredients. However, that doesn’t stop it from being a crowd-pleasing recipe.

My family of all ages have enjoyed this cake-  finishing every last bite on their plates. 

To help make this the fluffiest cake:

These are a few tips I have learned along the way to help make the cake the fluffiest possible. 

  • MILK TEMP: If your soymilk (or other plant-based milk) is super cold, allow it to come to room temperature before mixing all the ingredients. 
  • FRESH BAKING SODA: Old baking soda may impact the amount of rise. I buy my baking soda in a box, and cover the opening on the box to help keep the baking soda as fresh as possible. If it’s been open for a while, I will buy a fresh box and use the older one for cleaning. 
  • SIFT THE FLOUR: to help improve the final results, sift the oat flour after blending. I use a sifter from amazon, but you can also just use a mesh strainer. This helps to get the finest flour possible. Pour any leftover, clumpy flour into the blender during the “liquid” stage. 
  • FOLD THE BATTER: While it may be tempting to whip the batter to get everything incorporated, it’s really important to not over mix. Follow a folding method will help to combine the wet and dry ingredients together without overacting the baking soda. I like to think of it as “pressing” the wet and dry mixtures together rather than whipping. Slice through the ingredients, fold the batter, and then press any visible flour into the wet. Then carefully do this repeatedly until there is no more visible flour. You’ll know you have a good batch when bubbles are forming in the batter, and it’s really important to not overly disrupt this process. That’s where all the rise will come from!

A few more notes before you get started:

DATES VS DATE SUAGR: If you’d like to swap in whole, pitted dates in this recipe, feel free. The date sugar does help the cake have a lighter texture, but it will still be good with whole dates. I’d recommend using ¾ cup chopped, pitted dates in this recipe. Blend the dates with the lemon juice and soymilk until smooth and creamy. I try to buy my date sugar on sale, when I can to save money! I also check out stores like TJ Maxx and Home Goods to see if they have any that are discounted prices.

LESS SWEET: If you want your cake less sweet, then use ½ cup date sugar. My original test used  ½ cup date sugar per layer, but I wanted this to be closer to a true cake so I upped the date sugar amount.

ZEST: I would recommend leaving the zest at 2 tablespoons for a real pop of lemon. If you don’t have enough- it will still taste great with less. I prefer to add my lemon zest to the blender with the date sugar, lemon juice, soymilk, and vanilla, as I find the flavor to be much better when the zest is blended into the mixture.

OAT FLOUR: Making oat flour at home is super simple and much cheaper than store-bought. Sifting the flour through a mesh strainer or a flour sifter helps to get a really fine flour and lighter texture for the cake.

CASHEW BUTTER OR TAHINI: My latest versions of cake uses just a tablespoon of cashew butter (or mild or raw tahini to keep it nut-free). It’s not required to add the nut butter, as my original versions turned out great without it. I find it adds a little more cake-like texture to the final product, so I like to add it. I have not tried other nut or seed butters, but feel free to experiment. The cashew butter is much more of a mild flavor. Tahini works great, but does add a slightly earthy tone to it.

 

Lemon Cake with Blueberry Chia Jam

Kristina DeMuth, MPH, RD, LD
Hints of vanilla and lemon with a fluffy and soft textured cake, paired with a blueberry chia jam and vanilla frosting. This naturally sweetened Lemon Cake is made with whole food ingredients, like date sugar, oats, and cashew butter, helping to pack in the health promoting ingredients while enjoying something sweet. Cashew icing or a sweet potato frosting are both a perfect addition to this delicious dessert.
To make this a layered cake, double the cake layer.
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Ingredients
  

Cake (for a single layer cake) 

  • 1¾ cups old fashioned rolled oats 
  • 2  teaspoons baking powder
  • ½  teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ cup unsweetened soymilk (or other plant-based milk)
  • ¾ cup date sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest 
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice 
  • 1 tablespoon raw cashew butter or raw tahini (optional)  
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Chia Jam

  • 2 cups  frozen blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons ground or whole chia seeds 
  • 1 tablespoon  date sugar 
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions
 

Cake (for a single layer cake) 

  • Preheat the oven to 350F. If using a metal cake pan, line with parchment paper. Otherwise use a silicone round cake pan. 
  • In a high-speed blender, blend the oats until fine like flour. Sift the flour through a mesh strainer or a flour-sifter into a large mixing bowl. Pour any remaining flour back into the blender. 
  • Add the baking powder and baking soda to the bowl, and stir until well combined. Set aside. 
  • In the high-speed blender, combine the soy milk, date sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, cashew butter, and vanilla. Blend until smooth and creamy. 
  • Pour the mixture into the bowl with the oat-flour. Combine the wet and dry ingredients carefully (see notes above). Pour the batter into the cake pan. 
  • Bake for 30 minutes, add a few more minutes as needed until a toothpick comes clean.  Set the cake aside to cool.
  • If making a layered cake, repeat the steps again. 

Chia Jam

  • Thaw the frozen berries. Mash with a fork for texture blueberry filling or blend in a blender until desired texture. 
  • In a bowl, add the blueberries, chia seeds, date sugar, and lemon juice. Stir until well-combined. Allow the chia jam to set while the cake cools. 

Frosting

  • Prepare the sweet potato or cashew frosting. Linked in the notes.

Layering

  • Once all the layers are ready. Spread the frosting on top of the cake layer. Optional to use cake decorating tools to help. Next, spread on the chia jam.
  • If using another layer of cake, add that layer on top of the chia jam. Then spread on more of the frosting. Optional to add fresh berries or lemon zest. Slice and enjoy. 
  • Store leftover cake in the fridge for 3-5 days or transfer to the freezer in slices. Thaw out before serving again. 

Notes

Cashew icing or a sweet potato frosting are both a perfect addition to this delicious dessert.