Before I dive into today’s sweet recipe, I want to share my most recent cookbook with you, Healthier Chocolate Treats! The cookbook contains 50+ brand new, exclusive recipes for breakfasts, snacks and desserts. Each recipe comes with a color photograph and the Nutrition Information, as well as a separate section for Notes and Substitutions, exactly like you find here on my blog. However, none of these recipes will ever appear on my blog—you can only find them in my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook! I share many more details with you here, and you can buy a hardback copy here on Amazon for $29.95 or pre-order a digital copy here for $15.99 (to be released June 1, 2016).
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! I couldn’t have published the cookbook without your interest and support for my blog and my recipes. You made this dream of mine a reality, and I am so grateful! ♥
A few weeks after I turned ten, my family and I moved across town to larger fifty-year-old house with wooden floors and ceilings, along with sprawling front and backyards with plenty of green grass for children to play. The woman who lived there before us loved to garden, so she filled both spaces with as many bushes, flowers, and trees as you can imagine. Dad actually walked around and counted at least sixty (if not closer to eighty) trees!
While the majority of them were fairly normal for our part of California, she also planted quite a few fruit trees: green apple, orange, peach, plum, fig, avocado, grapefruit, kumquat, and three lemons. One of them bore lemons the size of softballs—almost too big to fit in my ten-year-old hands!—while the others produced our favorite, slightly sweeter Meyer lemons.
That summer, we pulled plenty of those Meyer lemons off of the trees nearly every week, sometimes to squeeze on fresh salads or pasta dishes, but usually to turn into lemonade. We found Mom’s juicer in one of the kitchen boxes we unpacked in mid-July, putting it to use as often as we could, and we loved spending our afternoons running through the backyard sprinklers, playing badminton, and sipping on icy cold homemade lemonade.
One day, we decided to try making homemade lemon popsicles instead of lemonade, and we dug out our popsicle molds from one of the last moving boxes. After {impatiently} waiting all morning for the mixture to freeze, we finally tried our treats as an afternoon snack… And almost immediately spit them out.
We somehow forgot the sugar!
Those sour popsicles were such a scarring experience that we agreed to stick with plain ol’ lemonade instead for the rest of the summer… Which led to most of my middle and high school years, too! Towards the end of high school, when I discovered my love of baking, we stopped juicing quite so many of the lemons so I could turn them into muffins and cupcakes instead, and even in college when I drove home to visit, I would often sneak a few to bring back to my apartment if I was craving any type of lemony baked treat.
A few weekends ago, I did the same thing and plucked a couple off of my parents’ tree, but I baked this Simple Strawberry Lemon Cake in their kitchen so they could enjoy it too! It’s full of bright sunshiny flavor, along with an extra pop of sweetness from the juicy berries on top, and makes for a lovely spring or summer dessert.
Or breakfast—it’s healthy enough for that, too!
You’ll use white whole wheat flour as the base of this cake. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from heartier red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits are regular whole wheat flour.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be a perfect substitute!
You’ll incorporate both lemon juice and lemon zest into the cake batter, so you’ll need about one extra large or two smallish medium lemons. The zest actually provides the majority of the lemon taste because the flavors are much more concentrated in the peel, so don’t skip it!
Then you’ll sweeten the cake with one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s highly concentrated. A little goes a long way! You’ll only need 1 ¼ teaspoons to sweeten this entire cake. This is the kind that I buy, and you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
When preparing the fruit topping, it’s very important to slice the strawberries thinly, no more than ⅛” thick. If your strawberry slices are thicker, they won’t cover the entire cake! And more importantly, the strawberries release juice as they bake, which seeps down into the cake batter. If the strawberry slices are too thick, they’ll release more juice, and the top part of your cake will be somewhat soggy. So thinly slice those strawberries for the best (and prettiest!) cake!
And I highly recommend using a 9” springform pan for baking this cake! (No, they aren’t just for cheesecakes!) The sides of a springform pan release from the bottom, so you don’t have to invert the cake—and risk squashing those beautiful berries!—to get it out of the pan. It makes the clean-up a breeze, too!
Would you like a slice? And when you bake your own, remember to snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking! I’d love to see your cake!
| Simple Strawberry Lemon Cake | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour* (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp 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
- 1 ¼ tsp vanilla crème stevia
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 very large)
- ¾ cup (180mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ cups (210g) whole fresh strawberries, thinly sliced (no more than ⅛” thick)
- 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. Stir in the vanilla crème stevia. Mix in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the 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 4 equal parts.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the sliced strawberries 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.) Bake at 350°F for 39-43 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.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, and all-purpose flour may all be substituted in place of the white whole wheat flour. If using regular whole wheat flour, the cake will have a slightly denser texture.
If you prefer to omit the vanilla crème stevia, then substitute ½ cup of agave or honey in its place, and reduce the milk to ¼ cup. I recommend agave since honey’s taste will slightly mask the lemon flavor.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
If you do not have a springform pan, use a 9”-round cake pan instead, and line the inside with foil before coating with cooking spray. After letting the cake cool for 10 minutes, carefully lift the cake out of the pan by holding onto the foil, and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information
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♥ Easy Coffee Loaf Cake with Dark Chocolate Drizzle
♥ Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake
Hi Amy…instead of Vanilla Creme Stevia, can I use normal Stevia? Is it the same thing pls? I use Misura stevia but there isn’t any mentioning of Vanilla Creme….thanks!!! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Roberta! I haven’t seen or used Misura stevia since I’m based in the US. If the one you have is a liquid, then I’d recommend comparing the label for that with the label for the vanilla creme stevia that I recommend in the recipe to see if they’re similar enough to substitute. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of the cake if you try it!
Hi amy…no mine is powdered Stevia as I can’t find like yours over here and for every 2 g of powdered srevia is equivalent to 5 g of normal sugar….do you think I can use it pls?
Yes, you should be able to Roberta! You’ll need the Misura equivalent of ½ cup of sugar, or maybe slightly more (depending on your tastes!). I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cake!
Why hello tomorrow’s breakfast!! Haha this looks so springy Amy! The photos are absolutely gorgeous 🙂
Thanks Marina! I’m guessing this will be a second breakfast, after your oats? 😉
I love the colors! I love even more that I could eat this beautiful cake! Looks delicious.
Thanks Melissa!
If i do not use the stevia do i have to use the honey/agave? It just seems like that is a lot of honey to use!!
Yes, that’s the right amount of honey Abbie! You can also substitute ½ cup of granulated sugar in place of the stevia and reduce the amount of milk to ½ cup as well. I’m excited to hear what you think of the cake!
Looks delicious. Strawberry/lemon sounds like a tasty combo, thanks for the idea
My pleasure Keith! I’d love to hear what you think of the cake if you try it!
This recipe is shouting out to be baked and as I work in Doctor’s office with everyone watching their sugar intake it will be perfect for a leaving party in a couple of weeks, thank you sweetness for your recipes.
xoxo
Aww you’re so sweet Beverley!! That means so much to me! ♡ I must have somehow missed that you work in a doctor’s office… I’m always so distracted by your gorgeous bakes on Instagram! ?
First I should say that the cake looks delicious. But if I want to replace stevia to palm sugar, how much I should put on the cake?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Elly! You’d need ½ cup of palm sugar and decrease the milk to 6 tablespoons. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cake!
The cake came out amazing. I loved the lemon taste with strawberries. Thank you for coming up with such a great idea! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake and the palm sugar worked, Elly! 🙂
i made this today and it was SO spongy and doughy. What did I do wrong?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! Let’s figure out what happened to make your cake perfectly tender, like it should be. 🙂 Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe? How did you measure the flour — with measuring cups or a kitchen scale? If the former, can you describe in detail how you measured? Also, did you use an electric or stand mixer?
We made these today, my almost two year old was my helper and she wanted cupcakes so that’s what we did
They turned out great everyone loves them
Thanks for your hard work and all the recipes
This one is going in the keeper box
I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed this recipe Linda! She must be such an adorable helper, and that’s really sweet of you to turn this into cupcakes for her. I’m truly honored that you’d call this recipe a keeper — thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you and your little helper try next!
Hi Amy,
The cake looks amazing! My mum asked for a healthy strawberry cake for her birthday and this recipe seems perfect! However, I was wondering if I could use coconut sugar instead of stevia because it’s hard for me to find where I live…how could I substitute coconut sugar for stevia?
Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Michelle! I’m truly honored that you’d consider making it for such a special occasion like your mum’s birthday! 🙂 Yes, you can substitute coconut sugar in place of the stevia! You’ll need ½ cup of coconut sugar + reduce the milk to ½ cup as well. Just remember that the cake will turn out brown and much darker in color, not pastel yellow like in my photos. 😉 I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of this cake!