My brother’s birthday is next weekend! Because he adores lemon treats—anything from cookies to cupcakes to scones to cheesecake and more—I’m helping him celebrate by declaring this Lemon Week on the blog. I don’t know who’s more excited about that… Me, who gets to bake everything, or him, who gets to eat it all!
For my brother’s freshman year of college, my family helped him get settled into his dorm room during Move-In Weekend, just a few days before his birthday. He lived in a suite with three other boys, and although they were all very nice, I felt really badly that my brother would spend his special day with nearly complete strangers.
So when my brother walked out to the car to grab another box of school supplies, I exchanged numbers with one of his suitemates and explained my idea to surprise my brother for his birthday. Since the dorm building had a gated entrance, that suitemate agreed to keep me posted on their dinner plans and let me in when I brought a homemade cake for dessert.
The following Thursday evening, I carefully loaded the lemon bundt cake into the backseat of my car, and my guy and I drove 80 miles south to the college. I texted my brother’s suitemate from the parking garage across the street from their dorm, and he immediately opened the gate and led me up to their room.
He had revealed the surprise to the two other suitemates and a few other people on their floor, so they gathered behind me when I opened the door and shouted, “Happy birthday!”
My brother looked up from his laptop, completely shocked and startled, and he did a double-take when he saw me standing in the front of the people holding his cake and birthday candles. A huge grin quickly spread across his face, spanning from ear to ear, and that reaction was even sweeter than the dessert in my hands!
Since he already graduated from college, I can’t surprise him anymore… But I can still make him a special birthday dessert! And this year, he requested something light and extra fruity, so I created this Simple Raspberry Lemon Cake for him.
The cake starts out with whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat pastry flour still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour but is lighter in taste and texture, making it perfect for cakes and pastries. The wheaty taste is so subtle that you can’t really detect it through the bright citrus and tangy berries! If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour would be a great substitute.
This entire cake only contains 1 tablespoon of butter! The rest of its tender texture comes from my favorite ingredient in healthier baking. Can you guess what it is? I’ve used it in everything from cupcakes and muffins to scones and frosting… It’s Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt provides the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives the cake a little protein boost too.
When it comes to lemon baked goodies, the majority of the bright sunshiny flavor actually comes from the lemon zest. The citrus taste is much more concentrated in the oils in the skin than in the juice, so don’t skip the zest! For the best taste, select lemons that are purely yellow without any green. Those greenish spots are too bitter!
And now for the best part… The fruity topping! My brother is trying to cut down on added sugar, so I used fresh raspberries for the top of the cake instead of frosting. As soon as he saw the cake, he exclaimed, “Wow, that looks amazing!!” That reaction made my heart glow.
We’ll need between 1 ½ to 2 pints of fresh raspberries to completely cover the top of the batter. You can either nestle them in on their side or upside down to hide the hole in the bottom—it’s up to you! If you choose the latter, you’ll need closer to 2 pints, whereas the former requires closer to 1 ½. Gently press them into the batter to ensure they stick before popping the pan in the oven.
Happy birthday to my brother! Who wants to help us celebrate by eating a slice?? 😉
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy raspberry lemon cake!
Simple Raspberry Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free flour* (measured like this)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp (10g) lemon zest (about 1 very large)
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) agave
- ¼ cup (60mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 very large)
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- 2 cups (280g) fresh raspberries (about 1 ½ pints)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat a 9”-round springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the agave and lemon juice. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the raspberries in a circular pattern, beginning with the outer rim before finishing with the interior, and gently press each into the batter. (See the photos in the blog post above, where the raspberries were placed on their sides.) Bake at 350°F for 32-37 minutes. Place the cake pan onto a wire rack, and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool completely before serving.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
My wife and I made this cake last night. We followed the recipe as written . We tasted the raspberrys before we started the recipe and they were so sweet. We made the recipe. Must say we were disappointed! The cake was not that moist king of dry and the raspberry had got bitter! We didn’t know why! Wasn’t that impressed.
Oh goodness! That’s not how the cake should have turned out at all; that sounds really disappointing Jack. Did you follow the recipe exactly as written, or did you happen to make any substitutions regarding flour, sweetener, or milk? I’d like to work together to figure out what happened so your next cake turns out with the perfect taste and texture!
Hello!
I did the recipe today, it looks very good! I used canola oil instead of the required (bc I didn’t had any..) the flavor of the cake it’s actually too lemony…. Should I put some sugar powder to make it more sweet? Or just eat it with some ice cream? Any other idea? I made a little bit in a crystal pan that is from where I tasted it. Tomorrow I’ll take the real one to a bday party… Waiting anxiously for your response!
That’s so sweet of you to bake this cake for a birthday party Mary! Happy birthday to that lucky person! 🙂 The cake is meant to to have the sweetness of a European-style dessert or American-style breakfast cake, rather than a traditional American-style dessert. I think your idea of powdered sugar or ice cream sounds lovely! You can also make a simple drizzle with powdered sugar and milk, and drizzle that on top of each slice just before serving. I’d love to hear what option you choose and what the other party guests think!
We have about 1.5 acres of property that is pretty much covered in wild blackberry bushes. I’ve been collecting them twice a week, washing and freezing them for later use. Anyway, do you think blackberries would work well in place of the raspberries? I love being able to use whatt we have growing on the property. It’s like getting free food!
Oh my goodness Candace, that sounds absolutely amazing! I’m slightly jealous of all those fresh wild blackberries! 😉 I think they would taste absolutely amazing in this cake. I can’t wait to hear how that turns out!
The recipe looked delicious so I’m giving it a whirl. It is currently in the oven. The batter seemed a little gummy/sticky when I put it in the pan. Is this normal?
The batter should be thick, but I wouldn’t call it gummy. Did you make any substitutions, or did you use an electric mixer to make the batter, by chance? I’d love to hear how it turns out Anneke!
It tastes good, it is a little dense and yes, I did use a electric mixer, I guess that was not a good choice!
I almost never use an electric mixer for cake batter (or cookie dough)! Only a fork or a spoon. 🙂 The electric mixer makes it very easy to over-mix, which would’ve created that gummy texture you saw in the batter. Next time, just use a fork or spoon, and the texture should be much better!
The taste of this cake was really good. However, the center of the cake (after 37 minutes of convection baking) was raw I had to scoop it out and bake it separately.
If your raspberries were exceptionally juicy (or if you used raw), the cake may require some extra time to fully bake through. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the cake’s flavor Carolyn!
Hi, Amy,
I’ve made this cake a few times and it’s delicious, but it’s also a difficult one. It turns out heavy sometimes. I haven’t figured out why yet.
Have you considered making a video for your YT channel for one of your yogurt based cakes? Just seeing the consistency would help.
One of your videos helped me achieve the ultimate oatmeal cookie. TIA. 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying the cake’s flavor Agnes, and thanks for your kind words about my videos, especially the oatmeal cookie ones! 🙂 I do have a few cake recipes on my “videos to make” list. If this cake turns out heavy or dense, it could be because of too much flour (make sure it’s measured correctly like this!), over-mixing (no electric mixer necessary for basically all of my recipes, including this one — I just use a fork!), or substitutions for the ingredients that I use. I hope those tips tips help in the meantime!
Hi Amy,
I’m Cori and I also have a cooking blog, well I wish I’d say “hope you’d enjoy it” but it’s not in English 🙂
Anyway, sometimes I use Pinterest as source of inspiration for my recipes and I got very confused about the measurements.
I bought recently a measurement cups and for 1 cup i get 250 ml/grams. Here I see you have 2 cups for 240 gr.
Is there a difference between the cups?
Thanks,
Cori
Congratulations on your blog Cori — it looks wonderful! 🙂 Metric and US measurements can be very confusing! This is because each ingredient has a different density, so 1 cup of flour (120g) doesn’t weigh the same as 1 cup of water (250g) or 1 cup of Greek yogurt (240g). They all have the same volume, but they have different weights because of their different densities. (I was a chemist before a baking blogger, so I love all of that nerdy science stuff!) Does that make a little more sense? 🙂
Hi Amy!
Thanks for replying! For sure now it makes all the sense:). I had to search deeper after I failed your recipe and then, it’s really frustrating at the beginning:)
Congrats to you too for the blog. Looks great!
Cori
I’m glad it makes more sense! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cake the next time you bake it! 🙂
Hi Amy!
I love your healthy recipes, I want to try them all! 🙂 I made this cake yesterday for a family party and everyone loved it! The flavor was great! My one concern was that the cake did not rise as high as yours did in the photo. I used the exact recipe guidelines except I used white flour instead of the pastry flour. I am wondering if that could be a reason? Thank you!
Emily
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake’s flavor Emily! That really means a lot to me that you chose my recipe to make for your family party. Thank you! ♥ If you used regular all-purpose flour rather than the whole wheat pastry flour listed in the ingredients, that shouldn’t make a difference as to how high the cake rose. My first guess would be either your baking powder or baking soda. How fresh were both of those? Did you buy new ones recently, or had they been sitting on the shelf for a while? Also, how was the texture of the cake? We’ll figure this out so your next cake rises as tall as it should! 🙂
Thank you for the reply! Actually I have been using both for quite sometime now. I didn’t realize, but no I haven’t bought new ones in awhile. The texture of the cake was a little bit gummy.
You’re welcome Emily! Buying fresh should really help. To address the gummy texture issue, how did you mix up the cake batter? Did you use an electric mixer or a spoon/fork?
Thank you for the advice! I mixed the batter with a fork/spoon!
Perfect! That’s exactly how I mix my batter too. (I’m too lazy to wash the electric mixer, and I can just stick the fork in the dishwasher! 😉 ) Typically, a gummy cake texture is due to over-mixing and overdeveloping the gluten strands. Be gentle when mixing together the batter, and stop when the flour looks just barely incorporated. The cake should be moist and ever so slightly dense, rather than light and airy (like angel food cake), but not gummy — so gentle stirring should really help. 🙂
Thank you for this great recipe! I made it for my fiancé’ s birthday on Monday and he loved it? He loves raspberries so this was perfect. I keep trying your recipes and have started baking at least once a week, everything you post looks so delicious that I just have to try it?
Katja x
Aww, that means so much to me that you picked my recipe for such a special occasion! I’m truly honored Katja, and I’m really glad he loved the cake. 🙂 And oh my goodness, you just made my heart melt — I’m so touched that you’ve been trying my recipes so frequently! You’re such a sweetheart!