Birthday Berry Cake

This grain-free berry birthday cake is a spongy, creamy deliciousness with tons of berries. It is gluten and dairy-free and Paleo-friendly. Your birthday table will look beautiful with this gorgeous cake. It is lightly sweetened only using honey and fruit.

birthday berry cake

Birthday Berry Cake

As a July baby, the raspberries in our backyard in my German home were ripe and ready to be enjoyed around my birthday. Therefore I grew up with my mom making a delicious raspberry layered cake to celebrate. So I made it my goal to recreate something similar, grain and dairy-free. I also decided to add other berries as well, and voila….my paleo birthday berry cake was born.

This cake has a special sentimental value for me, but besides that, it is simply delicious and so gorgeous. Perfect for any birthday dessert table or summer gathering.

Feel free to decorate the birthday berry cake with your favorite berries. Instead of using mixed berries as I did, you could use raspberries or strawberries alone. Red currents are also a great addition. Always op for organic berries since conventional berries tend to be heavily sprayed with chemicals.

Ingredients

  • almond meal
  • tapioca flour
  • arrowroot flour
  • baking soda
  • eggs
  • coconut milk
  • coconut oil
  • vanilla extract
  • honey
  • berries

Variations

  • You can use 2 smaller cake pans 6-inch diameter to make the cake higher.
  • You can use whichever berries you like.
  • You can play around with sweetness by making the coconut cream frosting sweeter or adding a bit of fruit jam in between the layers. The cake itself is not overly sweet.
  • You can use blanched almond flour if you cannot access almond meal.
  • You can leave out adding the raspberries to the batter. This will make the cake a bit more firm.

How to Choose the Right Coconut Milk for the Frosting

For the frosting, it is important to use canned coconut milk. When you chill it overnight in the fridge (in the winter in cold climates this step might not be necessary) the cream will rise to the top and you can separate it and use it instead of whipped cream. It should have a creamy but pretty firm consistency. This will only be possible with full-fat coconut milk though, so stay away from the light version.

The best coconut milk will consist of only coconut and water. Read the labels and stay away from too many additives. The shorter the ingredient list the better. Not all canned coconut milk is ideal to use as frosting because it doesn’t firm up properly (because of the emulsifiers). I have had success with the Wholefoods brand, Native Forest, and Thai kitchen. Sometimes it takes some time to find the perfect brand that works for these kinds of dishes.

Can I Make this Cake Ahead of Time and How Do I Store It?

Yes. You can make the actual cake the day before and store it tightly wrapped on the counter. I would recommend assembling it the day of because the frosting will be nicer. Just make sure you chilled your coconut milk cans.

Once the cake is finished with the frosting and the berries, you would store it in the fridge. Any leftovers would also be stored in the fridge as well. It still tastes really good the day after but the frosting won’t be as creamy, and the cake will be a bit dryer once it has been in the fridge overnight.

More Berry Desserts

For questions or feedback let me know in the comment section below. I hope you love my birthday berry cake as much as I do. Also, make sure to check out my berry tart recipe (if you follow the autoimmune protocol) I have good news for since that recipe is AIP)

Happy baking

~Annika

Birthday Berry Cake

This grain-free berry birthday cake is a spongy, creamy deliciousness with tons of berries. It is gluten and dairy-free and Paleo-friendly.
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings 10 people

Ingredients
  

For the cake

  • 2.25 cups almond meal (not blanched almond flour)
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 4 eggs (pasture raised)
  • 1/4 cup fullfat canned coconut milk (leftover from the cream for the filling)
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract (alcohol-free on AIP)
  • 1/2 cup organic raspberries

For the frosting

  • 2 cans fullfat coconut milk chilled overnight, (additive-free) approx. 2 cups coconut cream
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract (alcohol-free on AIP)
  • 1.5 cups organic raspberries
  • 1.5 cups organic strawberries
  • 1 cup organic blueberries

Instructions
 

For the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl whisk the eggs. Let them come to room temperature for a couple of minutes before adding the coconut oil to avoid hardening of the oil.
  • In the meantime, in another large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: almond meal, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, and baking soda. Mix thoroughly.
  • Scoop the coconut cream that has formed on top of the 2 coconut milk cans out and set it aside (You will use it later for the frosting). Use part of the leftover coconut milk for the dough of the cake. Store the rest in a glass jar in the fridge for a smoothie or sauce.
  • Add the coconut milk, vanilla, honey, and melted coconut oil to the egg mix and whisk until smooth. Combine with the flour mix and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Carefully add the half cup of raspberries to the batter and stir.
  • Grease a round 9-inch cake pan with coconut oil and flour it with tapioca flour. Pour the batter into the cake pan and make sure the raspberries are distributed evenly. You could also use two 6-inch cake pans to make the cake higher.
  • Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until cake tester/toothpick comes out without batter on it. Once done let it cool off completely for about 1 hour.

For the frosting

  • While the cake is in the oven use the time to prepare the frosting. Grab the coconut cream that you set aside earlier and whisk or stir until it is completely smooth. Add the vanilla and the honey and mix well. Taste and check if you want to add more if you like it sweeter. Be careful not to use too much vanilla. Place the frosting in the fridge covered and chill until you are ready to decorate the cake.
  • Once the cake has cooled off, carefully remove it from the cake pan. Use a knife to make sure the outsides of the cake are not sticking to the pan. Place a large plate on top and flip it around. Cut the cake horizontally in half using a large knife. If you use two smaller cake pans you won't have to cut them horizontally.
  • Place the bottom on a cake platter and add half of the coconut cream on top. Make sure the cake has completely cooled off inside before you do this otherwise, the cream will melt. Distribute it evenly. Add about 1 cup of the berries on top. Cover with the top part of the cake and add the rest of the coconut cream on top. Cover with the rest of the berries. Use as many as you like and feel free to exchange the berries to your liking.

Notes

Tips:
Feel free to exchange the ratio of berries to your liking. You could also use more or fewer berries if you prefer that.
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Comments

  1. Ruth Taddy

    I would like to use cream cheese for the frosting. What do you think?

    1. Hi Ruth. My apologies, for some reason I am just seeing this now. That could work, although I haven’t tried it. Did you happen to try?

  2. Alison @foodbymars

    Just made this for my daughter’s 2-yr old birthday and it was PERFECT. I used maple syrup instead of honey in the cake because that’s what I had on hand and omitted raspberries from the cake, otherwise followed the rest of the directions exactly. I did a strawberry shortcake kind of style with layered chopped strawberries with the cream and a homemade strawberry jam. The cake it SO good, not too sweet, tastes like vanilla birthday cake. The coconut cream also tasted like vanilla. Fabulous recipe, thank you!!

  3. Eva-Maria

    Is it possible to use something alse instead of the almond meal? I cannot have almonds.

    1. Hi Eva-Maria. I have not tried it yet but my best bet would be to try it with tigernut flour. Let me know in case you try 🙂

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