Moist and delicious gluten-free lemon cake is layered with coconut whipped cream and fresh berries. The perfect dessert to welcome spring!
Spring is my favorite time of year, aside from fall. I love the in-between seasons when the weather’s more mild and I get to bring out my clothes that have been in storage for the last several months. It’s almost like having a new wardrobe. Isn’t it nice to find clothes you forgot you had? 😉
Having a cold on top of allergies for the last several days hasn’t been fun, but the sun shining and the birds chirping somehow makes it a bit more bearable. The sickness started from my hubby who must’ve picked something up from work. He passed it to me and it has making its way through the family. Of course my hubby is totally better now, as I sit around with my tissues, sneezing every five minutes. It’s so not fair. On top of that he keeps reminding me that this is how he felt a few days ago…”yep, that’s exactly how I felt,” and “see, I wasn’t exaggerating.” I’m like, of course this is how you felt, you’re the one who brought the sickness into the house and infected the rest of us!
Through my annoying cold, I mustered up the energy to bake and I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate—with cake, of course! After all, this beautiful season, where everything’s in bloom and the weather has finally warmed up a bit, deserves to be celebrated! With a hint of lemon and fresh berries, I can’t think of another cake that screams spring like this one does! Enjoy!

Lemon Layer Cake with Fresh Berries
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 8-inch cake 1x
Description
Moist and delicious gluten-free lemon cake is layered with coconut whipped cream and mixed berries. The perfect dessert to welcome spring!
Ingredients
Lemon-Berry Cake – Vegan version here
- 2 cups gluten-free flour I use Bobs Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
or King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
- 1 cup Super Fine Blanched Almond Flour
* (see notes below for substitution)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup softened butter (can use dairy-free)
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons oil of choice like vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
- 1 cup honey or maple syrup (or combo of both)
- 2/3 cup almond milk or other milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 2–3 large lemons, to taste
- Lemon Whipped Cream (recipe below)
- 3–4 cups mixed berries (some sliced and halved for in between layers)
- edible flowers, optional
Lemon Whipped Cream :
- 16 oz. regular or dairy-free cream cheese or mascarpone
- 1–2 (14 oz) cans coconut cream
or full-fat coconut milk refrigerated overnight (about 1 3/4 cup firm coconut cream, liquid discarded. Can also use 1 cup regular whipping cream if not dairy-free)
- 3–5 tablespoons honey
or other sweetener of choice (more or less to taste)
- juice and zest from 1 lemon (more or less to taste)
Instructions
Cake:
- This cake makes two 8-inch
or three 6-inch
cakes. To make a 3 layer 8-inch cake, use 1 1/2 cake recipe.
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grease cake pans and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle (cut to fit the bottom.) Set aside.
- Combine flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add softened butter, eggs, coconut oil and sweetener. Begin beating together with the flour mixture. Slowly mix in the milk, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is evenly incorporated.
- Evenly distribute cake batter into the pans and place on the middle rack in the preheated oven. Bake for 25-35 minutes OR until cake is golden brown, center is set, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Bake time will vary upon pan and thickness of batter.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit, then run a knife along the edge of the cake (if sticking to the pan) and invert cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Whipped Cream:
- In a large mixing bowl, begin to beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add sweetener and lemon juice/zest and continue to beat until fluffy. Add cold, hardened coconut cream and beat on high until light and fluffy, a few more minutes. Taste and adjust sweetener or lemon flavoring. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
- If using regular whipping cream, beat whipping cream separately until fluffy (about 3-4 minutes) and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
Putting it together:
- Place one of the fully cooled cakes onto your cake plate. Top with 1/3 or 1/2 of the whipped cream (depending on how many cake you have) and about 1 cup of sliced berries.
- Top with another cake layer and repeat the process.
- At the end, top cake with remaining whipped cream and a pile of whole and halved berries. Decorate with edible flowers and a light dusting of powdered sugar (optional).
- Serve right away and store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
- *If you need to substitute almond flour, use the cake in this recipe. Just add the lemon zest from this recipe to keep the lemon flavor.
- Cake recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dessert, Gluten-Free, Refined Sugar Free
You May Also Enjoy These Similar Recipes:
Vegan Lemon Cake with Fresh Berries
Vegan Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Buttercream
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Berries
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