This Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Cake is seriously moist, packed full of fresh blueberries and slathered in creamy blueberry frosting. It’s the perfect pretty dessert for occasions like birthdays, baby showers and weddings.
Why you’ll love this Blueberry Cake:
- it’s moist and fluffy
- it’s rich and creamy
- it’s sweet but not sickly
- it’s fragrant and fruity
- it’s easy to make
- it’s packed full of blueberry flavour
- it’s naturally coloured and flavoured
- it’s beautifully colourful and delicate
- it’s undetectably vegan and gluten-free
- it’s refined sugar free and relatively healthy!
How to make this Blueberry Cake
This recipe is inspired by my Strawberry Cake and starts off by puréeing real blueberries – no artificial colourings or flavourings here!
I used frozen blueberries as the texture doesn’t really matter as they’re going to be puréed. Plus, they’re cheaper and available all year around.
Tip: Remember to reserve 1 tablespoon of the puréed blueberries so you can add it to the frosting to create a beautiful lilac colour.
Then just mix the puréed blueberries with the rest of the ingredients, and you’ll end up with a vividly purple batter.
Here are some substitutions you can make to the recipe:
- you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
- you can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc
- you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
- you can substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts
- for a nut-free version: substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (1/4 cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds
- you can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free
- if you’re not into blueberries, you can use some other fruit like strawberries, raspberries or mango instead.
Then you can just divide the batter between two baking tins and bake for 15 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Once the cake has cooled completely, you can cover it with frosting and decorate however way you like.
Tip: For a super lazy frosting, you can use a thick coconut yogurt instead of whipping up coconut milk to make coconut whipped cream. Coconut yogurt frosting is amazing as it has a tangy flavour and a slightly fermented taste reminiscent of cream cheese.
EQUIPMENT YOU’LL NEED TO MAKE THIS GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN BLUEBERRY CAKE:
- food processor or blender or hand-held stick blender – for puréeing the blueberries
- glass mixing bowl – for mixing the sponge batter
- measuring jug – for measuring out the puréed blueberries and milk
- 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin – for baking the sponges
- baking paper – to line the baking tins
- cooling rack – to leave the sponges to cool down on once they’re out the oven
- electric whisk – to whip up the coconut milk to make the frosting
- palette knife for frosting – for applying the frosting to the cake
How long does this Blueberry Cake keep for?
This Blueberry Cake does taste best when fresh, but it keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More vegan blueberry dessert recipes:
- Blueberry Cheesecake
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Mug Cake
- Blueberry Pie
- Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 150 g (1 cup) frozen blueberries
- Unsweetened almond milk to top up the puréed blueberries - see instructions for measurements (or sub any other plant-based milk
- 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or sub any other sweetener)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the frosting:
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk **
- 1 tablespoon puréed blueberries (reserved from the puréed blueberries used when making the cake)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Use a food processor, blender or hand-held stick blender to whizz the blueberries until completely smooth (leave the blueberries to thaw first if your blender isn’t very powerful)
- Reserve 1 tablespoon of the puréed blueberries and set aside to use for the frosting
- If your blender doesn’t have measurements on it, transfer the puréed blueberries to a measuring jug and top up the mixture with the milk until you get to 200ml (4/5 cup)
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)
- Once melted, add the puréed blueberry and milk mixture to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash of plant-based milk if it's looking too dry
- Transfer mixture between two small greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins)
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until lightly browned and an inserted skewer comes out clean
- Once out the oven, immediately remove cakes from baking tins and transfer onto a wire rack to cool
For the frosting:
- You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies)
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl
- Add the reserved tablespoon of puréed blueberries, vanilla extract and maple syrup
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy
To decorate:
- Once the sponges have cooled completely, place one sponge on a large plate or cake stand, and cover with half of the frosting
- Place other sponge on top and use the remaining frosting to cover the top
- Best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Ines
I absolutely love how flexible this recipe is, can use so many different fruits and they all work – amazing!
Rhian Williams
Yes so glad to hear that thank you!
Jen
What can I substitute for the almond meal/flour?
Rhian Williams
Ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds!