*This Strawberry Vanilla Almond Cream Layer Cake is gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free.
It’s no secret that I love cake. When giving up things like white sugar and flours, even trying to avoid wheat flours in general, cake becomes a somewhat impossible seeming sort of dessert to be able to enjoy any more. At the same level, anyway. Cakes made with refined sugar and white flour are so easy to make, I now realize. Achieving a soft, moist cake with the right amount of sweetness is almost a no-brainer (though I will admit that those same cakes I speak of have become unbearably sweet to me now – my tastes have changed and I really prefer sweet things to be on the lesser end of the spectrum).
That’s how our modern day cakes with the perfect texture and taste came to be, isn’t it? By modifying ingredients that have always been available to the point that they performed exactly how we wanted them to but became entirely stripped of their nutrients and became more harmful than nutritious.
That is my goal when it comes to the recipes I put on this blog. I want to bring you recipes (like this cake) that are just as good as the things that I used to make (with refined and processed ingredients) but that are made with whole, nutritious ingredients instead.
That was what I had in mind when I made this cake. I really wanted a nice almond cake with layers of strawberry jam but that didn’t contain any grain, dairy or refined sugar. To tell you the truth, I thought I completely failed when I pulled the cakes out of their pans and found them to be much denser than I had hoped for.
So, I spread the layers with a strawberry jam, frosted it with a thin layer of cashew frosting and we took the cake with us to my parents for Sunday dinner.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I cut into cake and sent the slices off to be served to my family members. Maybe a total disappointment?
WRONG.
This cake was amaaaaazing. Because of the liquids and yogurt in the batter, the cake layers had a texture almost like a tres leches cake. It was like the almond cake layers had been slightly soaked in a sweet creamy milk and then chilled. Those creamy layers of cake along with the strawberry jam and not overly-sweet cashew frosting were so perfect together and I was SO grateful that I made sure to write all the ingredients down.
This is a cake I will make again and again.
Each member of my family agreed that it was amazing as well. So I left them a sliced or two and then horded a few slices in the back of my refrigerator so that I could make sure that the cake was still as good as I though it was for the next few days (I do this because I really care, folks. Quality control is a job I take very seriously).
A few notes:
*Remember to soak your cashews the night before you want to make this cake. If you forget, place your cashew in a mason jar, pour very hot water over the top of the cashews to cover by an inch, and let sit for an hour. Drain and use!
*If you can, look for Strawberry Preserves
that do not have any sugar added to them. There are several brands out there that only use fruit juice to sweeten – or only the actual fruit itself, though you may need to look at a natural foods market to find them.
*This cake is best served and eaten within the first 48 hours. This is not one that you want to make way ahead of time.
More ‘nutritious’ 😉 desserts:
Raw Key Lime Cheesecake with Macadamia Coconut Crust
Black Bottomed Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Cheesecake
Mostly Raw Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle Torte
Raspberry Rose Mini Cheesecakes with Pistachio Crumble
- 2¾ cups Almond Flour
- 2 tablespoons Tapioca Starch
- 4 tablespoons Coconut Flour
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ teaspoons Cream of Tartar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 5 Eggs
- ¾ cup Honey
- 1½ teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 teaspoons Almond Extract
- 1 cup Almond Milk
- ¾ cup Coconut Oil, Melted
- 1 cup Coconut Yogurt (or plain whole milk yogurt, if not dairy free)
- 1 jar Strawberry Preserves (no sugar added)
- Fresh Strawberries, to garnish
- FROSTING:
- 1½ cups Cashews, soaked overnight
- ¼ cup Almond or coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- pinch Sea Salt
- ¼ cup Honey
- Juice of ½ Lemon
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 6" cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper circles.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, honey, vanilla, almond extract, almond milk, coconut oil, and yogurt together until smooth and well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and whisk together until just smooth and lump-free.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans and bake in the preheated oven 40-45 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cakes. Remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove layers from pans and refrigerate until fully cooled.
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- Drain the cashews and placed them in a high speed blender along with the almond milk, vanilla, salt, honey, and lemon juice. Process for several minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until very smooth. Scoop into an airtight container and refrigerate.
- TO ASSEMBLE:
- When the cake layers have cooled, cut each layer in half horizontally so that you have four layers of cake. Place one layer of cake on a cake stand and spread strawberry jam across it in an even layer. Set another cake layer on top of the jam and top that layer with jam as well. Place another layer of cake on top of that jam layer and spread with jam again. Place the last layer of cake on top of that layer of jam.
- Frost the cake with the chilled frosting. There should be just enough frosting to give the cake somewhat of a 'naked cake' look. It won't be entirely covered in frosting, it should have just enough to patch it together leaving it with a rustic look.
- Top the cake with sliced strawberries.
- Keep in the refrigerator.
- While cakes are cooling, make the frosting:
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That looks amazing! And so many wholesome ingredients, too. The cashew frosting sounds genius 🙂
Wow! This cake is stunning and so perfect for spring! I love how versatile cashews are – I never would have thought to use them in frosting 🙂
This looks amazing! Do you think I could swap out some of the almond flour for AP flour or spelt flour something a little lighter in taste and texture?
Hi Simaran! Thank you! You could try swapping it out, but the almond flour is much more dense than an AP flour, so I’m not sure how it would work out. This recipe is tailored specifically to the coconut and almond flour, so it is egg heavy and may not work well with substitutions.
I just tried this today. In general it was a hit… but I had a few challenges in making it. It called for 6″ pans, which I didn’t have. I was also serving a bigger crowd, so I doubled the recipe and divided it among three 9″ pans. When I went to cut each layer in half, the cake stuck to the knife, much like a cheesecake might. I just used the bottom of my springform pans to help transfer the layers and got it done, but it was a little messier than I expected. Flavor was good, texture was a bit like a tres leches or cheesecake. Frosting was a nice touch and turned out nice and smooth, but was a bit warm from the VitaMix, so had to cool it.
Thanks for posting this!!! (Yours was a bit prettier, but the pictures helped as I styled mine)
I’d like to see if there are any variations for this that might include a cinnamon flavor? Any other sweetener options besides honey for a lighter flavor? Would agave work?
Hi Debi! I’m glad the cake was a hit! It’s definitely on the dense side, so the larger volume it’s cooked in, the more dense it will be. I actually made this cake “tres leches” style a few weeks back and added cinnamon to the mix….it was so good! Maybe I’ll post that version on the blog at some point. You could use agave in place of the honey, I think it would work fine! =)
This looks amazing. Do you think it could be made vegan by replacing the eggs with Ener-G Egg Replacer or flax egg? Or do you think it would be weird? I’m thinking of making this as a wedding cake so I would love to hear what you think!
I’m not sure it would work to switch out the eggs with replacments since there are so many eggs in the cake, giving it most of it’s structure =(
I just made this cake. I personally found the texture to be very grainy (both the frosting and cake). I baked the cake at the recommended temperature and it came out undercooked, then I tried again at a lower temp for longer and it was still not that great. On the second round I used less honey and decided to substitute it for agave. This helped a little with the over saturation of the honey flavor.
I am so excited to try this! My mom has to eat gluten free and has quit sugar, so this is perfect! We celebrate her on saturday for Mother’s Day because she will be out of the country on the actual day of. This is right up her alley!
Thanks so much for posting.