In high school, shortly before our family vacation to New York City, my grandpa gave me a copy of the movie, “You’ve Got Mail,” which took place in the Big Apple. I immediately watched the cute chick flick, falling in love with Meg Ryan and her online romance story.
Towards the middle of the movie, her character plans to meet her online suitor for coffee one evening at a Manhattan café, with a dimly lit yet cozy interior of red brick walls and a vast display case of desserts. When I discovered the place actually existed and was only a few blocks from our hotel, I easily convinced the rest of my family to stop by on our trip.
When we stepped inside, we were completely amazed by the sheer number of desserts… And the length of the patrons in line! We joined the queue, and I was secretly grateful for the extra time to study the huge variety of options before placing my order at the register.
Although I finally settled on an over-the-top chocolaty and decadent cake slice (no surprises there… I published my chocolate cookbook for a reason!), a platter of unassuming thick pound cake pieces still caught my eye as I waited in line. Something about their comforting simplicity called to me, even though I eventually passed them by.
When Grandma and I listened to songs from the movie’s original musical “She Loves Me!” recently, that memory floated to the forefront of my mind, and I decided to make this Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Pound Cake in honor of that family vacation. It’s just as tender as the café one looked, but this one contains no refined flour or sugar and only 134 calories!
In researching pound cakes, I learned they earned their name because they included a pound of each of the following ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. Yikes! That’s a whole lot of calories… So let’s talk about how we’re going to shave off most of those in this healthier recipe!
Rather than a full pound of butter (about 2 cups!) and a pound of eggs (about 9 of them!), you’ll just use 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil and 3 egg whites. Whew! I hope you just breathed a huge sigh of relief with me…
For the rest of this cake’s tender texture, you’ll mix Greek yogurt into the batter! Although you probably guessed that already if you’ve been around my blog a while… You know how much I ♡ it! Greek yogurt adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your pound cake a protein boost, too!
You’ll also skip the pound of sugar (just over 2 ¼ cups) and sweeten your healthy pound cake with one of my favorite ingredients: liquid stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing artificial or refined (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!), and it’s highly concentrated. You just need 1 tablespoon for this entire cake! This is the kind I use because I love its sweet flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertaste (like with some other products!), and although you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Instead of all-purpose flour, you’ll use white whole wheat flour (like this). White whole wheat flour earned its name because it comes from a special type of white wheat (it doesn’t actually contain any all-purpose flour!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. White wheat has a lighter taste and texture, yet still has the same health benefits as regular red wheat, which makes it perfect for this tender cake!
And now for my favorite part… Those fresh juicy summery oh-so-irresistible blueberries! Fresh blueberries will always yield the best results in this cake, especially in the appearance department. Frozen ones tend to stain your batter gray… Not so appealing!
Just look at those bright pops of purple! ♡
I’m positive this one beats the indulgent slices I saw in NYC… 😉 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 blueberry pound cake!
The Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups (330g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp 14g unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15mL) liquid stevia
- ¾ cup (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (270mL) nonfat milk, divided
- 1 ½ cups (210g) fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a 9x5” loaf pan with foil. Lightly coat the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Set aside 2 tablespoons of blueberries, and gently fold in the rest.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and gently press the remaining blueberries on top. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before lifting out the cake by the foil and transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Greek Yogurt Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Greek Yogurt Cranberry Orange Pound Cake
♡ …and the rest of her healthy pound cake recipes!
I would really like to try your recipe. My question is can you substitute the wheat flour for almond flour or coconut flour?
I’m honored that you’d like to try this recipe, Terri! Unfortunately, I really don’t recommend using either option. Coconut flour behaves SO much differently than any other flour, and substituting it in this recipe would make the batter so dry that it wouldn’t even hold together. While almond flour won’t dry out the batter the same way, I still don’t recommend substituting it. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Almond flour lacks that, so when you substitute it for wheat-based flours in my recipes that rise (like cupcakes, cakes, muffins, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and may collapse while cooling. Does that make sense? 🙂
However, if you don’t mind that texture difference with almond flour (where your pound cake collapses and turns out denser), the flavors will still remain the same! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making it!
Hi! I want to try this recipe, but would I be able to use oat flour instead? Also can I use hazelnut milk in place of nonfat milk?
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Mel! I’ve actually answered your milk question in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions!). I know it can be easy to miss that bit! 😉
I typically don’t recommend that oat flour substitution in my pound cake recipes, including this one. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Oat flour lacks that, so when you substitute it for wheat-based flours in my recipes that rise (like cupcakes, cakes, muffins, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and may collapse while cooling. Does that make sense?
However, if you don’t mind that texture difference with oat flour (where your pound cake may collapse and turn out denser), the flavors will still remain the same! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making this blueberry pound cake!
I just made the recipe. I cooked it almost 60 minutes. The top was quite sturdy when touched and I didn’t notice any wetness when poking it with a tooth pick. I took it out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Upon turning the bread over to remove it from the baking dish, the bottom center cake oozing out from the bread! I promptly returned it to the oven for even more baking! I had a similar issue when making pumpkin muffins. Am I doing something wrong?
I’m honored that you tried making my recipe, Jody! That sounds really strange and not like how this pound cake, so I’d love to work with you to figure out what happened. 🙂
Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups to measure all of the ingredients? After washing your fresh blueberries, did you add them straight to the bowl, or did you let them drain (or dry them) first?
Are you using a traditional oven or a countertop oven? Is it a convection (fan-assisted) oven? How many rack positions does the inside of your oven have, and which one are you using to bake?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but once I know your answers to all of them, I should have a much better idea of the potential culprit!
Thanks! I used measuring cups to measure, I used frozen berries, not fresh. (Could that be it?) Conventional oven on the 3rd rack of 5. What I have eaten was good…but “doughy” and had a strong “stevia” taste.
It’s my pleasure, Jody! The frozen berries could’ve contributed to that issue, but it doesn’t quite seem right that your cake would’ve still been raw in the middle after 60 minutes. Did you fully thaw them AND pat them dry (as instructed in the Notes section!) before adding them to the batter? And did you add more than 1 ½ cups of frozen blueberries?
By “doughy,” do you mean raw and underdone? Or gummy? (I just want to make sure I fully understand what you’re saying! 🙂 )
The center was Thick and gooey and poured out of the bottom. After cooking some more, it still had a gummy texture. I used frozen berries. Just popped them in the bowl. Didn’t thaw them. I’m guessing that was the mistake?
Yes, not thawing your berries definitely would’ve caused problems, Jody! Frozen berries contain a LOT more moisture because of their ice crystals that melt when they’re heated, whether in the oven or just coming up to room temperature. When that moisture is released into the batter, it adds way too much liquid, which prevents your cake from baking properly. Even when fully baked all the way through, your cake would likely collapse while cooling because of that extra moisture that compromises the cake’s structure. That’s why I instructed to thaw frozen blueberries and pat them dry in the Notes section. I know it can be easy to miss that detail! 😉
I had the similar issue and had to bake for nearly 70min and still had a few bad areas. This also left other parts quite dry. I actually think the issue is too many blueberries. At least with Bobs 1:1 GF flour. Next time I will do a cup if I make again- it’s great with yogurt however far more like a quick bread than a pound cake.
I’m honored that you tried my recipe, Laura! That’s so strange that your pound cake was both too dry in places and underdone in others. I’d love to help solve that issue before you try making it again!
I’m assuming the dry parts were the outsides — is that true? How was the color of your pound cake compared to the 4th photo in this blog post (where you can see the full loaf!)?
Did your pound cake collapse while cooling?
Did you use fresh blueberries? If so, did you drain them thoroughly after rinsing (to minimize the amount of rinse water that made it into the batter!)? If you used frozen, were they fully thawed and patted dry, like I mentioned to do in the Notes section of the recipe?
When you said this was more like a quick bread than a pound cake, were you referring to the texture or sweetness level?
Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section, besides baking it for 70 minutes?
Finally, did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons to measure all of the ingredients, especially the flour, yogurt, milk, and blueberries?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit (and what you can potentially do differently next time!) once I know your answers to all of them! 🙂
I LOVE your healthy recipes. Unfortunately the dairy protein content cause me problems so I cannot use many of your recipes. Do you have a newsletter with DAIRY FREE recipes?
It means so much that you’re enjoying my recipes, Sandra! Many of them can be made dairy-free with simple swaps, like dairy-free milk and dairy-free yogurt (ie soy-based, almond-based, coconut-based, etc!). I have many lactose-intolerant family members and friends, so I’ve become pretty familiar with dairy-free baking over the years! 😉
You can also find all of my dairy-free recipes here. I’d love to hear what you think if you end up trying any of them — or if you try any dairy-free swaps in my other recipes too! 🙂