Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake

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Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake is the perfect spring and summer cake recipe. It’s bright, lemony and covered in a heaping amount of fresh blueberries. Made from a blend of almond flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour plus a good amount of fresh lemon juice, this is a paleo cake recipe that’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.

A lemon cake topped with blueberries on a table. A small plate of fresh lemons and blueberries is next to it.

I’ve been wanting to make a lemon blueberry cake for ages. There’s just something about the combination of lemon and blueberries that’s deliciously sweet and puts a smile on your face. It’s all the goodness of spring and summer rolled up into a cake and it’s perfect for Sunday brunch, afternoon tea and Mother’s Day.

But as you probably know, paleo baking is not without nuance. The ratio of the flours, wet ingredients and sweetener has to be just perfect for the right texture. If you followed the behind-the-scenes on my Instagram, you know that I attempted this cake four times (and made lots of little tweaks).

But good news – I’m incredibly happy with this final version and thrilled to share the recipe with you today!

A lemon cake topped with blueberries on a table. A slice of the cake is taken from the cake and on a plate next to it.

Paleo Cake Ingredients

If you’re familiar with paleo baking (which is gluten-free and dairy-free) then the ingredients will be of no surprise to you. Like a lot of my baking recipes, I have a mix of almond flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour, which forms the bulk of the cake.

While taste testing this recipe I also tried out a few different sweeteners:

  • Maple Syrup: For the official recipe I decided to stick with maple syrup as this was the clear favorite among the taste testers. It really gave the cake a light and moderately sweet flavor.
  • Honey: An alternative is to use honey which can be swapped 1:1 with the maple syrup. Compared to the syrup, honey can make the cake texture a little more dense. But if you’re looking for a less sweet cake, honey will be the best alternative.
  • Monk fruit and Erythritol: For a low-carb and keto friendly sweetener you could use monk fruit or erythritol. However, since monk fruit is a dry ingredient, you’ll need adjust the ratio by either adding additional wet ingredients or minimizing a dry ingredient (I recommend doubling the coconut oil and reducing each of the flours a little).

Lastly, the cake, if you haven’t guessed has a lemon flavor and a delicious blueberry top. Blueberries are on my 8 Anti-Inflammatory Foods I Eat Every Week list and who said I couldn’t include them in a dessert to get my count for the week. *wink*

Step-by-step process photos for making paleo lemon blueberry cake.

A lemon cake topped with blueberries on a table.

Which Lemons Should You Use?

I recommend using fresh lemon juice for this recipe, rather than bottled lemon juice. The flavor is much more vibrant and pronounced. If you can find Meyer lemons, those are great and they’re a little sweeter which is perfect for this cake.

How to Make Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake

Because this cake has blueberries on top, I recommend using a springform pan. It’s much easier to release the cake after baking and you don’t have to worry about turning it upside down. Once you’ve got your pan ready you’ll need to go through the following steps:

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl.
  2. Add the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. This step may seem like an evil plan to get you to wash more dishes, in reality though, a chemical reaction occurs once you mix the wet and dry ingredients together that helps the cake rise. It’s important to have the chemical reaction happen last right before the batter goes into the oven or else your baking may fall a little flat.
  3. Mix both wet and dry ingredients together with a hand mixer. Once the batter is all mixed in pour it into your spring-form pan.
  4. Add blueberries! I recommend adding 1/2 cup (or more, if you’d like) of blueberries after half of the batter has been poured. Then add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of blueberries on top and place the cake into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

A slice of paleo lemon blueberry cake on a plate, sitting next to the cake.

More Delicious Paleo Desserts You’ll Love

Want a variation of this in muffin form? Try my Paleo Blueberry Muffins. And if you’ve got an abundance of lemons, you might also love my Lavender Lemonade, Meyer Lemon Coconut Macaroons and Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies.

A lemon cake topped with blueberries on a table.

Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake

4.99 from 110 votes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Author: Lisa Bryan

Description

Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake is made from a blend of almond flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour plus a good amount of fresh lemon juice and topped with blueberries.

Ingredients 
 

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Instructions 

  • Pre-heat oven to 350° F (175° C).
  • Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with coconut oil or ghee. You can also line the bottom of the springform pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
  • Combine all dry ingredients (minus the blueberries) in a large bowl and stir.
  • Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl.
  • Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a hand-mixer on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds or until combined.
  • Pour half the batter into the springform pan and add 1/2 cup of the blueberries. Pour the remaining batter and add the rest of the blueberries on top of the batter.
  • Bake in the oven for 55-60 min. The batter will remain light colored on top, so use a toothpick to make sure the middle is cooked through. 

Lisa's Tips

  • Don't forget to use a springform pan for this recipe. It's much easier than a regular cake pan. 
  • A few extra tips:
    • If your cake sinks in the middle, your wet to dry ratio might be slightly off. Just reduce the lemon juice a smidge and add 1-2 extra tablespoons of coconut flour. 
    • I recommend fresh blueberries rather than frozen blueberries as frozen blueberries are heavier and may sink to the bottom. Frozen blueberries can also add extra moisture to the cake, so if you do use them you may have to bake a little longer. A few folks on instagram have posted they've done it with frozen blueberries with success though!
    • If you pile a ton of blueberries on top (as I did) you'll notice the top may not get very golden. Don't use the color of the cake as an indicator of doneness. Make sure to use a toothpick and cook until it comes out clean. Every oven is different and you may have to cook slightly more or less time. 

Nutrition

Calories: 298kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 331mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 16.7mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 1.5mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Lemon Blueberry Cake, Paleo Cake, Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake, Paleo Lemon Cake
Did you make this recipe?Mention @downshiftology or tag #downshiftology!

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About the author

Lisa Bryan

Lisa is a bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, and YouTuber (with over 2.5 million subscribers) living in sunny Southern California. She started Downshiftology in 2014, and is passionate about making healthy food with fresh, simple and seasonal ingredients.

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Recipe Rating




442 Comments

  1. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday this past weekend and it came out excellent! I didn’t have coconut oil, so I substitute that ingredient with ghee. I also added a dash of almond extract. The consistency was perfect — crispy on the outside, but moist and fluffy on the inside. The crust was a nice golden color. I used maple syrup as the sweetener and it had just the right amount of sweetness (I found that a lot of other Paleo baked goods I’ve tried taste a bit bland with not enough sweetener). I’m so glad I found your recipe because I thought Paleo baked goods just would never taste good. Can’t wait to try your other recipes. Thanks so much for sharing this!5 stars

    1. So glad you’ve finally found paleo baked goods that are delicious Ada :) Be sure to take a peek at my other paleo desserts!

    1. Hi Chloe – you could try, but you might need to increase the liquid ratio a bit. And just know that it will likely turn the cake slightly brown.

  2. Hi, I just made this cake and it is absolutely delicious!!!! It is not saggy or wet how some other fruit cakes can be! It was just perfect!!! 
    The macros that you have are per piece/per serving or for the whole cake?
    Thanks for this recipe!5 stars

  3. Should this be stored in the fridge or out at room temp? Can this alternatively be poured into muffin tins? I know you have a blueberry muffin recipe too, but if you wanted lemon blueberry muffins, is it just the same?

    1. Hi Dre- I would keep this in the fridge just to be safe, especially with warmer weather. As for muffins, I believe you should be able to turn them into blueberry muffins with a muffin tin! But, I haven’t tried it yet. So if you do, please let me know how it goes!

  4. Hi Lisa! I just try the cake :) The taste is amazing and I really love it… I just wanted to say that the metric conversion is somehow strange… the cake turn out really wet (and I used only the half of the marple syrup because I didnt want it that sweet). It was baked enough (maybe also a bit too much!) but inside is still really wet. So I looked on the internet and found out that the conversion ist quite different, something like 290gr in stand of 240gr of almond flour. If you can please, check it out :) Thanks and have a great sunday!5 stars

    1. Hi Alessandra – you might be right. Unfortunately, the metric conversions are done automatically through a plug-in on the website. But doing a manual calculation online it looks like it should be 240g instead of the 224g listed. So maybe try just adding a little bit more next time. :)

  5. This looks delicious! Is there a way to reduce or completely leave out the maple syrup? My dad can’t have any added sweeteners :(

    1. Hi Rae – unfortunately, I haven’t tried this recipe without the maple syrup, so not sure how it would turn out. But it would likely alter the wet to dry ratio if you omit it.

    2. Hi Rae, you can use dates! Something like 5/6 big dates, cutted in small pieces and let them get soft in a bit of warm milk (almond milk, soja milk, whatever milk). Still a sweetener but maybe it works. (it works also with dry apricots, you just need a lot more of them to get the same sweet)

  6. Hi Lisa!

    Quick question about the flour. I did not have almond flour so I used all purpose flour instead. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly but the batter turned out to be sticky and doughy instead. Is this due to the lack of almond flour? If so, why is that.

    Thank you!

    1. Hi Sadia – yes, almond flour is very different from all purpose flour and they bake differently. Unfortunately, you can’t substitute them in recipes.

  7. Hi Lisa, I made his cake yesterday and OMG!! what a delicious blueberry lemon cake and gluten free!!
    I used munk fruit and left out the vinager. It was a success!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe ❤5 stars

    1. Glad to see someone used monk fruit!
      Please tell me how did you change the ratio of other ingredients?
      Thanks!

    2. I made the cake two days ago and it lasted one a day.
      Can I do this cake with apples?
      Thanks.

      1. Hi Karolina – So glad you enjoyed this cake! I haven’t tried it with apples, but I’d be curious!

  8. This was an absolute success! I love every bite of it, it’s fabulous!
    I finally got all my ingredients ready since I didn’t want to mess with it, I love blueberries and it’s so refreshing with the lemon ☺
    I just used 2 lemons since they were quite big and it seemed to work.
    To be repeated for sure!!!5 stars

    1. Wonderful! This is always a great recipe to go for when you have lemons and blueberries waiting for you :)

      1. I also noticed that since the cake fell in the middle and it felt like I put too much coconut oil (the taste and texture were still great) so I came back to check the numbers and I think the “metric” measures are a bit different; comparing to your other metric recipes. I think it should be more like 280g almond flour, 90g tapioca, 40g coconut flour; 215 g maple syrup and 50-54g coconut oil? ;)

      2. The metric numbers are converted automatically based on my recipe card plug-in. So if you think a slight tweak to those would improve it, definitely give it a try!

  9. LITERALLY THE BEST.

    I have never tasted a lemon blueberry dessert this good in my life and the most amazing part is that it’s baked using clean and healthy ingredients! This was my first time baking it and I devoured my slice in 2 minutes… Perfect Easter cake!! I am typing this as I’m eating another slice :’)5 stars

    1. Hi Melody – Wow! I’m honored that you chose this recipe as your first baking project. So happy to hear this turned out perfectly for Easter. Now, I can’t wait to see what other baking goods you make from Downshiftology :)

  10. Hi Lisa! This looks delicious! I’d love try it. I don’t have coconut flour, could I add more almond flour and a little more tapioca flour instead? Or what would you recommend? Thanks for your help!

    1. Yes, you could certainly give that a try. But as the coconut flour is a very absorbent flour, I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out. Keep us posted!

      1. Hello Lisa!
        I finally made this cake. It was delicious!!! I did end up using only almond and tapioca flour. I looked up how many tablespoons are in 1/3 cup and it said 5 Tbsp + 1 tsp. So I used an extra 3 Tbsp + 1 tsp of almond flour, and 2 Tbsp of tapioca flour instead of the coconut flour, and it worked! I also had to divide the batter into two baking pans because I don’t have a spring-form pan, and baked it for about 30-35 mins, but that was no problem at all. It didn’t fall flat, nor was dense, or anything like that. I’m not sure if it would have been different if I would have baked it all in one pan, but it worked for me. Thank you so much for this great recipe!

      2. I’m so glad you figured out a few measurements to make this cake! Quite a few people have used just those two flours as well and have had no problems with the consistency.

  11. Oh my God, this cake is amazing Lisa! Turned out to be perfectly moist and with lots of flavour. I used erythritol as a sweetener. Thank you so much for your recipes, they never fail to surprise me! Would highly recommend to try out as it’s a perfect and easy recipe for Easter baking 🍋🥮5 stars

    1. Hi Karolina – So glad this recipe turned out well for you :) Definitely is the perfect Easter cake!

    2. My family and I absolutely love this cake! It’s our #1 go to for special occasions. Would it be possible to substitute the blueberries for other fruits or use the batter to make upside down cakes? Just curious if anyone has tried this!5 stars

      1. Hi Lauren- I haven’t tried this with other fruits, but it could possibly work! If you try it, do let me know how it goes :)

  12. I love this cake! It turned out perfect and was so moist and delicious! I will be making this again!5 stars

  13. This lemon blueberry cake was so moist and delicious. I did use frozen blueberries and it was still success!5 stars

  14. I only have almond flour, and no coconut flour nor tapioca flour. But I do have flaxseed meals and some oats(gluten-free!). 

    1. Hi Dana – you could give it a try with different flours, but because I haven’t tested with those I’m not sure how it will turn out. Every flour is quite unique when it comes to baking.

  15. I made the lemon blueberry cake tonight and it was easy! I used a springform pan and lined the bottom with parchment paper, but I  did not read the part about coating the sides with coconut oil so it was uncoated while cooking.
    When it was done I gently ran a knife blade inside the pan to loosen the cake from the pan.  When I popped the ring it was fine, and it taste amazing!
    I don’t do Instagram or I would have posted a photo.
    My wife wants a slice for breakfast tomorrow with her first cup of coffee.
    -Bill5 stars

    1. Hi Bill – So glad you found this recipe simple to make! You can also post a photo of it in the Facebook Community group if you aren’t a part of it yet :)

  16. This is the best gluten free cake I have ever made! We love it! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I serve it with a little CocO Whip and it is perfect; even those who usually turn up there nose at gluten free food love it. 5 stars

    1. Hi Janice – unfortunately, this recipe is very nuanced. It took me 5 tries to get it perfect, so just know that if you change the flours, it may not turn out exactly right. But arrowroot powder is a pretty good substitute for tapioca flour. So give that a try!

  17. Wow this was the best. Seriously. 
    I made muffins and am curious about the nutritional value breakdown. You posted info — is what you posted reflective of per serving/ slice or the entire cake? (So I can from there math out each serving of muffin!) Thank you so much for your tasty recipes!5 stars

      1. Love this recipe. I substitute the almond flour with chestnut flour and it comes out perfect. I’ve also made it with various fruit, without fruit, etc., and it’s always delicious.5 stars

  18. This was an awesome cake!  Turned out perfectly!  Does it freeze well (not that there was any left…not even a crumb)?5 stars

    1. Hi Elena – So happy you enjoyed this cake :) As for freezing, you can freeze it if you’d like! I would cut any leftovers into pieces and store in an airtight container.

  19. Amazing!!!!!! My husband and I are so obsessed with this recipe! I’ve made it several times and I use a muffin pan and it’s always a hit! Thanks Lisa!

    1. Hi Amber – I’m thrilled to hear both you and your husband love this recipe! Can’t wait for you to whip this up again in the spring time :)

  20. I love all the paleo options that Downshiftology has to offer! Made this cake for my mom for Mother’s Day and we all loved it! Most importantly, I didn’t have a sugar crash or a bellyache afterword! I would definitely make this again!5 stars

    1. Hi Badmire – I’m glad you’re enjoying my paleo recipes :) Can’t wait for you to test new baked recipes coming next year!

  21. Made this for my family and everyone loved it so much I made it twice in a single week! A major hit and nutritious to boot.5 stars

  22. Made this Blueberry Lemoncake last weekend. I used a mix of frozen berries and it turned out great!
    I will try another dessert from your blog next weekend! 😋

    thanks for sharing! 5 stars

    1. Hi Chloe – Glad you enjoyed the blueberry cake :) Can’t wait for you to try another one of my desserts!

  23. Just made this for the second time using fresh Michigan blueberries. It is awesome! The first cake disappeared quickly since my husband (who is not gluten/dairy/sugar free like me) thought it was great and shared it with the guys who were remodeling our bathroom. I followed the recipe exactly. This second one I used grape seed oil in place of coconut oil when I discovered I was out, but it turned out just as great. Thanks so much for this and all your other recipes. By far the best I have found.5 stars

    1. Hi Deb – I’m so glad you discovered and love this recipe! It definitely took me a few tries to perfect this one :)

  24. I made the lemon blueberry cake for company on this hot summers day. It was delicious and very moist. I will definitely make it again. Thank you so much Lisa for getting this just right! I can always count on your recipes! The only problem is after the company left the left overs keep calling my name, one little sliver at a time.lol5 stars

    1. Hi Dawn – I’m so glad you and your co-workers loved the Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake! It definitely took some time to perfect it, but it finally came out just right :) Excited for you to make this in the future.

      1. I have made this and absolutely love it! We also LOVE your chocolate cake – it fools my whole family! My husband and I are craving a cinnamon cake so I am wondering if I could sub the lemon juice for almond milk or another liquid? Thank you! 5 stars

      2. Hi Melody – so happy you love both of those recipes! Yes, I don’t see any problem substituting the liquid to create a new flavor. :)

  25. I just made this for the second time using frozen mixed berries and it worked great :) I also didn’t have any tapioca flour handy and used arrowroot flour and it worked well. OK, so my question is about your nutritional breakdown – is that per serving (slice) or for the entire cake?5 stars

    1. Wonderful! I’m so glad you loved it and thanks for sharing that you made it with frozen berries and arrowroot flour. The nutritional information is per slice.

  26. Hi Lisa! I’ve two questions!

    1. For the coconut oil : the quantity refers to melted coconut oil or “solid” coconut oil?
    2. If I multiply al the quantities by 1.5, the recipe will still Work? (All my pans are larger than 9”!)

    Thanks :)

    1. Hi Elena – yes, the coconut oil is melted. And that shouldn’t be a problem multiplying the quantities. Or you could keep the quantities the same and have a slightly thinner cake. Either works. :)

  27. Hi! Not sure if my comments are going through, I can’t get a message to go through in the about section :( how would this lemon cake turn out in a Bundt pan? And could I do 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 coconut sugar? Thank you!

    1. Hi Amanda – I moderate comments before posting. Yes, this should work fine in a bundt cake pan. As for the 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 coconut sugar, the answer is a little more complicated… The cake heavily relies on the ratio of wet and dry ingredients as while testing it sunk a lot in the middle, but with a bundt cake you may be safe since the middle is hollow and it can cook better in the middle. The general rule is if you remove a wet ingredient (maple syrup) and replace with a dry ingredient (coconut sugar) then in most cases you’ll need to add more of a wet ingredient (like coconut oil).

  28. Hi! Love your recipes. Could I also make this one in a Bundt pan? With or without blueberries ??‍♀️ I’m really wanting to make a Bundt and I love your recipes! 5 stars

    1. Hi Amanda – Yes, I think this would work well as a bundt cake. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!

    1. Hi Janet – that would change the wet to dry ratio quite a bit, so follow my instructions for if you’re using a keto sugar as it would be similar to that.

  29. I made this cake today for a big family gathering. It was a winner! It was easy to put together and it was amazing to see it bubble and fluff up when I mixed the wet and dry ingredients! It was full of flavor and light. It’s definitely a keeper!5 stars

    1. Yay, Alma! I’m so happy your family loved it and thank you so much for the kind comment! :)

  30. Hi Lisa, I’m wondering if the apple cider vinegar is absolutely necessary in this recipe, or if there’s another option as I’m intolerant of vinegars. Thanks!

    1. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda which makes the cake rise. You could instead use cream of tarter or baking powder. :)