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 last night and it turned out great! So tasty and moist! Everyone loved it! Will definitely make it again! 5 stars

  2. Hi Lisa
    If i want to lessen the lemon juice to 1/3 cup. What do you suggest i adjust and how?
    Thank you in advance!

  3. I made this and it was amazing!!
    Question – could I made this into cupcakes? Wondering if I would need to change anything in the recipe other than the obv. bake time x

    1. I haven’t tried these as cupcakes yet (aside from my blueberry muffins), but if you give it a try let me know how they turned out!

    2. I’m not sure if you ended up trying this or not but I just did and they are, by far, the best paleo muffins I’ve ever made! If you want them more fluffy like a muffin, I suggest bringing the eggs to room temp, melting the coconut oil and hand mixing the ingredients together. Of you want them more cake-like, just follow this recipe as is!5 stars

  4. Hi Lisa,
    If I want to do 1/3 cup maple syrup instead of the 2/3rd cup that the recipe calls for (to keep sweetness down) what extra liquid would I have to add in to compensate? More lemon juice? Some coconut oil or some coconut/almond milk? How much liquid – 1/3 cup? I’m thinking if I use frozen blueberries instead of fresh they might add a tiny bit of liquid from cooking in the cake. I’m making this in a couple days so please let me know Thankyou!!5 stars

    1. Hi Michelle – unfortunately, baking is an exact science, and it’s hard to know how the recipe might turn out with that substitution (without having tried it myself). Especially as liquids and syrups have different weights and bake differently. But I wish you the best of luck with your experimentation! :)

  5. Very delicious and moist.  Love the flavors of lemon, blueberries and coconut.  Thank you for always sharing your healthy recipes.
    Lisa, Warm wishes to a lovely person.5 stars

  6. I would like to make this, but only have almond flour and coconut flour on hand. Can I make this w/o the Tapioca flour and just increase the other flours? If so, what would the increase be? Thanks!

    1. Each of these flours serves a purpose in terms of texture. I would not recommend substituting with more almond flour or coconut flour.

  7. I made this as lemon cupcakes and omitted the blueberries. I used Sprinkles cream cheeses frosting recipe and made sure to use your powdered sugar recipe, grass fed butter and cream cheese.  Everyone gave it a 10!!!!! Even non paleo gluten loving friends!  Thank you for the wonderful recipes.5 stars

    1. Unfortunately I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs yet. But if you do, please let me know how it turns out!

  8. What’s the best way of converting the cooking time and/or quantities to work in smaller baking tins. I have 7 inch pans.

  9. Hi Lisa,
    Is there any chance I could make this with a Bundt pan? I want to make this for my sons birthday but was hoping to make it a little more fun looking :)

    1. Hi Krista – I don’t see why not? You might need to just adjust the time a bit. Let us know how it turns out!

  10. Hi! So I just made this, and like some others have mentioned, the batter was not pourable at all, and I did stick precisely to the measurements. I just added probably 3/4 C of oat milk to make it a bit smoother. The cake turned out perfect regardless!!

    Lisa – is it possible to let us know which brand of flours you used? I’m sure that is where we are finding the differences. 5 stars

    1. Hi Suzanna – I’m glad you got it to work out! And yes, different brands of flours can definitely make a difference. I also find some people are accidentally using cassava flour for tapioca flour, which is entirely different. But I usually use Bob’s Red Mill Flours.

  11. Love this simple to create luscious lemon and blueberry cake. Turned out devine on the first attempt. Think I was heavy on the lemon juice and could have added a bit more coconut flour but I love the extra lemon flavour. A simple powdered sugar finish!5 stars

  12. Hi,
    May I ask you – do you wait for the melted cocnut oil to cool down – before mixing it with the eggs?

    1. Hi Leah – happy to hear this is one of your favorite cakes! Yes, you can use arrowroot flour instead of tapioca.

  13. I am celiac also. This cake was so delicious and easy to make. A thousand million thanks Lisa 5 stars

  14. Hi can I substitute the almond flour for a standard gluten free flour mix? I have the others. Thanks!

    1. Unfortunately, this recipe calls for almond flour as I haven’t tried using this with a gluten-free flour blend yet.

  15. Another winner! Absolutely loved this recipe! I’m a big fan of your recipes and this one is a keeper! 5 stars

  16. Hi Lisa,
    I am planning to make this recipe and I am trying to learn from previous mistakes so I was wondering if the batter will be way too dense what wet ingredient can I add for a more moist batter please, and how much of that? Last time my berry sheet cake was too dense. We agreed I should have add a little bit more milk so fingers crossed it won’t happen now. Thank you and have a great day! 

    1. Hi Anita – paleo baked goods will naturally be more dense than their traditional counterpart, but I don’t think this cake is overly dense. And it’s definitely moist. Unfortunately, there can be variation sometimes with different brands of flours around the world and I think that may contribute to varying textures. If your batter is really thick when you make this, I’d just add a splash of milk (any type). Good luck!

  17. Hello,
    I loved the idea of this recipe, but it didn’t work for me, even though i followed it exactly!
    When I mixed the wet ingredients into the dry, it became a dry crumble, which a firmed and pressed down once I added into the spring form.
    What did I do wrong?? I used almond flour, should I have used ground almond?
    I dont know 🙈
    I would really appreciate if you could help , thank you 😊

    1. Hi Rita – It sounds like something was definitely off with your measurements, as the batter should be pourable. I’d recommend double checking that you added all of the correct amounts of everything. :)

    2. Same happened to me, I just added oat milk until I thought the consistency was about right! It turned out perfect.

      1. I agree my first attempt was very grainy and definitely NOT pourable but finished product tasted ok. It was hard to put into the pan.

  18. I am currently baking this cake but without the blueberries. My fiance’s birthday is tomorrow. He wanted a lemon cake but doesn’t care for blueberries. So, I’m going to top it with a vanilla frosting. Hoping it turns out well.

    1. Please let me know how this turns out! It might throw off the quantities a bit without the blueberries.

  19. Another amazing recipe, that will be an often friend on our menu! The cake turned out fantastic. I also sprinkled it with frozen raspberries, it was definitely a hit! Warning: if you left some in the fridge in the evening, there is a high chance not to find any the next morning! (Which happened to me)5 stars

  20. Hi :) I only just discovered your blog, while looking for food inspiration :D I’ve just finished a Norwegian program similar to Whole30 and right now my body doesn’t seem keen on dairy or gluten, so I was very excited to discover all your wonderful recipes <3 I was invited to visit some friends for dinner today and I offered to bring desserts. This cake sounded so delicious, I really wanted to try it! I had a bit of a task finding tapioca flour/starch locally, as I live in a town up in Arctic Norway, but I managed to find some at last! I loved this cake and my friends, including their 5-year old daughter, loved it too! They were surprised at how moist it was and that it tasted "normal", despite being free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar. I will definitely be making this again! and I'm looking forward to trying other recipes too :D5 stars

    1. Welcome to the Downshiftology community Linda! So glad you and your friends enjoyed this cake in the end. Can’t wait to see what other recipes you make.

    2. Hi , is there another flour I can substitute the coconut flour with ?
      I can’t have coconut .
      Thank you so much !
      Andreea

  21. Made the cake for Easter. It was so delicious !! I used frozen blueberries and it came out perfect !5 stars

  22. My mo made this for Easter yesterday and it was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. LOL Kudos on an amazing recipe!5 stars

  23. This is the best! I just made it, but my lemons were tiny so I didn’t get enough juice. I added a little bit of almond milk to compensate the liquid hehe. Also, I only had frozen blueberries, and I think that helped with the moisture. I’m def trying it again with some decent lemons, but it is A M A Z I N G!5 stars

  24. Hi. I have a question. In your recipes you always use a blend of flours and I cant make these recipes because my daughter can not have almond flour due to a severe allergy that she has. Is there another flour I can use in place of almond flour or can I use a measure to measure gluten free flour and if so how much gluten free flour would I use? Thanks

    1. Hi Shawn – unfortunately, all flours bake slightly differently, including GF flour blends. You can certainly try it with a GF flour blend, but you might need to tweak the ratios just a little. Hope it works for you!

  25. Greetings from Canada. I need to replace our beloved maple syrup with stevia because my daughter is in a 4 weeks sugar free diet. Just wondering how much stevia for the same amount of maple syrup? I will probably have to add some liquid to compensate the absence of maple sirup, I am guessing…
    It looks delicious.

    1. Hi Lucy – unfortunately, I don’t know on that as I haven’t tried it. But yes, you’d need to add some liquid back in to compensate. Hope it works out for you!

    1. Hi Ioana – greetings to you in Romania! The nutrition value is per serving and there’s 12 servings (slices) in this recipe. Enjoy!

  26. I made 12 cupcakes. Defrosted frozen blueberries in a strainer. Forgot the vinegar. Baked 30 minutes. Delicious!5 stars

  27. Loved this the first time I made it. Is it possible to substitute the almond flour with a rice flour (brown, white, sweet white)?

    1. Glad you loved it! All flours bake differently and as I haven’t tried this with rice flour, I’m not sure how it would turn out.

  28. I made this cake a few months ago  and it tastes great!  Would you consider making a smaller cake? Instead of 9 or 8 inch cake pans maybe you can try 5 or 6 inch pans.5 stars

    1. Hi Marisa – I’m happy you love this recipe! You can certainly cut the recipe in half and use a smaller pan if you’d like.

  29. Hi – thanks so much for this recipe. It looks so yummy and I can’t wait to try today! I just have one small problem…the only Ingredient I don’t have is the coconut flour. Is it possible to use just regular flour for that portion instead? Do you think it would turn out OK? 

    1. Coconut flour is highly absorbent and not like other flours, so it’s not easily replaceable in recipes. You could give it a try, but I’m not sure how it would turn out.

  30. anybody ever made it on a 9×9 square pan? I don’t have a springform pan but I have ALL the ingredients and would love to make it NOW!!!

    1. I made it in an 9 “ square pan. I lined it with parchment paper and greased the paper and sides of the pan with coconut oil. 

    1. Hi Susan – I haven’t, but EVOO usually has a really strong flavor. I think it might be overpowering in this recipe.

  31. Hi, I am planning on making this cake this weekend. I wonder if the cake tastes just like a regular cake? Or does it have the grainy coconut flour taste?
    Thanks
    I’m sure it is delicious, as the comments all seem super encouraging!

    1. Hi Arielle – gluten-free and grain-free cakes definitely have a different texture to traditional cakes, but I don’t think this has a grainy coconut flour taste with my special flour blend. Hope you enjoy it!

  32. Hi Lisa! Is this recipe enough to make two 8 inch rounds for a double layer cake? Or should I double the recipe? Thanks. 

    1. Hi Chloe – I would recommend adding 50% more, if making two 8″ rounds. I think doubling might make each layer too thick.

      1. Does this taste like a regular lemon cake? Lisa mentioned that it has a different texture, but is the texture close to the regular cake?

  33. Loved this, best cake so far I’ve tried and came out perfect on the first try! The blueberries were popping in the mouth and the lemon came through so nicely! Never thought I could bake anything let alone so easy and delicious as all of Lisa’s cakes! Yumm! Thank you Lisa! :)5 stars

      1. I did and the 2nd one was even better! 🙂
        BTW, a few days later I have found a Lemon blueberry granola from Bob’s Red Mill and as soon as I opened the bag I knew it’s going to taste like the cake! So obsessed with this combo now 😄

  34. Love this beautiful cake. It does not cause heartburn for my dad(normally has heartburn with other lemon cakes he has eaten before). I love it as a great paleo alternative to regular lemon. 5 stars

  35. This is such a yummy and refreshing cake! I made it for a Super Bowl watch party for a few friends, and it was such a hit! 5 stars

    1. Amazing recipe. My non paleo family members preferred it over the store bought cake that we also served for a birthday. I love the texture.5 stars

  36. Wow. This cake is perfection!!!! The flour combo is the best! I have two fuyu persimmon trees so I substituted the persimmons for blueberries and omitted the lemon zest but kept the lemon juice. I am so excited this is so delicious! I could eat it all day long.  5 stars

    1. Happy to hear you loved this lemon blueberry cake! Definitely keep this on hand for the upcoming holidays :)