Coconut Lemon Cake with Blueberries

I recently teamed up with letter artist extraordinaire Victoria Bellavia to create these little gems. Something about putting words on an image makes it feel like a little object rather than a digital photo. I have to say that I absolutely love how these came out and now I selfishly want Victoria to work with me on every blog post. You should totally go check out her work, it’s magical.

As always my talented sister Rachel is the genius behind this recipe. I love it. It tastes like summer. This is what she has to say about it…

“Ask our Dad what he wants for any meal at any time, and he will give the same answer, “something light, healthy, and delicious.” This response, as vague as it is predictable, always gets an eye roll or two from our Mom or us kids.

This year we traveled to D.C. to celebrate Father’s Day. Our brother lives there and hosted a delicious a lunch. I took the assignment of making a dessert–aka a “light, healthy, and delicious” dessert. Adapted from a Molly Wizenberg’s French Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon, this dairy free version fits the bill, and like the original it’s simple to make.”

The recipe is below. A huge thanks to Rachel and Victoria for all their hard work!

Cake Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/2 cup coconut yogurt
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup silken tofu, blended
1/2 cup canola oil

Garnish:
Powdered Sugar, sifted

Lemon Syrup:
1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Blueberry Topping:
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and drained
Pinch salt
Sugar to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8-inch bundt pan with cooking spray. Dust the inside of the pan with flour. Over the sink, knock the flour around until the inside of the pan has a thin coat of flour. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in a bowl. Mix to combine (a fork works well) and set aside.

Using a blender or food processor, blend tofu until smooth (no chunks, please). In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, blended tofu, and oil until the batter is smooth. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. I like to do this in two batches. It might be a little oily at first, but it will come together. The batter will be thick-almost like a muffin batter. Transfer the batter into your prepared pan, taking care to see that the mixture is evenly distributed throughout, and place in the preheated oven to bake. When a thin metal tester placed into the center of a cake comes out clean, the cake is done (about 25 – 30 minutes and has a golden color).

While the cake bakes, prepare the lemon syrup and berry topping. To prepare the lemon syrup, simply combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl. A fork works well. The berries are also simple to prepare. Remove any leftover tofu from the food processor, thoroughly rinse and dry. Add ½ cup of the blueberries with a pinch of salt and sugar. Blitz the blueberries in a food processor until a puree is formed. In a medium sized bowl, combine the puree with remaining whole berries, fold until well integrated.

When the cake is done, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for about 5-10 minutes. Then remove the cake from its pan by inverting it onto a plate.

While the cake is still warm, slowly spoon the syrup onto the cake. Some of the syrup will be absorbed by the cake and some will not—and that’s OK. You can serve this cake at room temperature or warm. Your preference. Using a sifter, dust the cake with powdered sugar. To serve, top the sliced cake with generous dollop of the blueberry mixture.

As with Molly Wizenberg’s version, this cake can be enjoyed solo (sans syrup or topping). You can also use whatever berries you have on hand—raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, even cherries (without the pits, of course) would all be delightful. Enjoy!

Till next time! xx

Vanessa Rees

Coconut Lemon Cake with Blueberries