For some reason, blueberries always remind me of summer: sitting outside by the pool, soaking up the sunshine, and then biting into some juicy and refreshing blueberries to cool off. And after this past week of sub-zero temperatures and tons of snow/ice here in Michigan, I could really go for some summer weather right about now! But since I can’t change the weather and magically make it warmer outside, I did the next best thing… I baked this blueberry cake that reminded me of summer and the warm weather!
When it comes to baking, I’m a big fan of adding blueberries, whether it’s in cakes, banana breads, pancakes, or muffins. I just love how they get all warm and juicy and then burst as soon as you bite into them. It just doesn’t get much better than that!
Lately, Costco has been having some amazing deals on produce, and I’ve been loving all the fresh berries! Unfortunately, I get a little too excited and buy too many containers at once, and then I’m stuck trying to use them all up before they go bad. After opening up my fridge last week and realizing I had a full carton of blackberries and blueberries, I decided that I needed to bake something to use up some of that fruit. Cue this blueberry almond cake!
This cake was extremely dense and moist, thanks to the Greek yogurt and applesauce used in the recipe. I also used whole-wheat flour instead of white flour and silan date paste as opposed to refined sugar, so overall, this cake is actually pretty nutritious! (As well as delicious).
When cakes are dense and moist (like this one here), I have no problem eating them plain without any frosting. But let’s be honest… cake is always much better with some sort of glaze or icing, right?!
This isn’t your traditional heavy or overly-sweet frosting, though. This one is a light and creamy glaze made from just a few simple ingredients: cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and a pinch of powdered sugar. The Greek yogurt gives it a nice tangy taste, and the minimal powdered sugar gives it just the right amount of sweetness to compliment that tanginess. And then because I’m a big fan of toppings and texture, I added some more blueberries and slivered almonds for a bit of crunch.
In terms of the sweetener in this recipe, I used silan date paste. It’s just ground up dates and that’s it – nothing else added! Not only do I love the taste that silan provides, but I love that it’s loaded with all the fiber, vitamins, and minerals found in dates – things like magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper, iron, and vitamins A, C, D, and the B vitamins. If you haven’t tried date paste (silan) yet, I highly recommend it! You can use it just like you use honey or maple syrup, which also means that honey or maple syrup can be used in this recipe if you don’t have date paste at home.
Now all that’s left to do is make this cake for yourself, slice yourself a big piece of it, and enjoy!
Oh and by the way, this cake is also great at breakfast with a nice big cup of hot coffee (or tea!)
Enjoy!
Almond Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup honey, maple syrup, or date paste
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 1 2/3 cups whole-wheat flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ – ¾ cup slivered almonds
- 1 ½ cups blueberries
Icing
- 2 TBSP unsalted butter or coconut oil softened
- 3 ounces plain cream cheese
- 3 TBSP plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ – 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 TBSP unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9×13” baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, applesauce, eggs, honey/maple syrup, coconut/brown sugar, and extracts. Gently mix in the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda, and then fold in the almonds and blueberries
- Pour mixture into greased dish and bake for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely before icing.
- Make the icing: use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Spread mixture over cooled cake.
- Top with additional blueberries or slivered almonds, if desired.
