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

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Author: Joscelyn Abreu
Total Time: 30 mins
Yield: 8-inch cake 1x

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Description

Moist and delicious gluten-free lemon cake is layered with coconut whipped cream and mixed berries. The perfect dessert to welcome spring!

Ingredients

Scale

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)

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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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Delicious gluten-free berry filled vanilla cupcakes are filled with a fresh berry & chia seed jam and topped with a fluffy lemon cream frosting.

Easter is only a few days away and instead of Easter egg shaped treats, I decided to make some fresh, spring inspired cupcakes! These are the perfect individual—no cutting or utensils needed—dessert. The fact that you don’t have to grease and flour cake pans and that they take less time baking in the oven has me making them more often. I mentioned before that I used to make party and wedding cakes and cupcakes for a time before getting my degree in graphic design. Cakes are what I’m familiar with and many times a go-to dessert for entertaining.

Creating cakes and frostings that are gluten and refined sugar free (and still delicious) has been challenging to say the least. I’ve made many futile attempts with few successes, but I always share the wins and this is one of them!

Since spring is now here, I wanted to make these very fresh in flavor. The cupcakes are adapted from my Summer Berry Cake with a bit of lemon zest added. I filled them with a chia jam made from fresh berries and chia seeds. For the frosting I blended together grass-fed butter, cream cheese, thick unfiltered honey, and some fresh lemon juice. It was the perfect fluffy topping and only mildly sweet. I love desserts, but I don’t like them overly sweet.

Chia seeds absorb the juices from the berries and make a thick jam-like consistency. It doesn’t require any cooking or starch, just time to thicken. I cut a small plug of cake out of the center and ~~ate them all~~ filled each with the berry-chia jam—as much as would fit!

I topped these with fresh berries and even drizzled lemon curd on a few. You can dress these however you wish—lemon zest, candied lemon peel or toasted coconut—just keep them in a cool place so the frosting doesn’t melt. I hope you enjoy these sweet treats!

Do you have any special plans for the holiday? Since my husband is a pastor and will be working all throughout the weekend, we’ll attend a few services at our church with him. We’ll have our big Easter dinner on Monday when he’s off. Happy Easter to you and your family, dear friends!

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28