Healthy paleo lemon layer cake with sweet potato frosting. Easy gluten free cake made with sweet potatoes, not flour! A quick paleo dessert recipe, perfect for summer.
Favorite things about life right now:
- Layers of this lemon cake, plus that ultra-creamy-want-to-dip-my-finger-in-it-frosting.
- Walks through the blooming aspen trees with heavy clouds of rain above and balmy temperatures keeping me cozy.
Is anybody else guilty of this: balancing your laptop on your little mobile treadmill, so you can pack in a work out and get a jumpstart on work in order to make extra room the day for more cake?
Why yes, yes I do.
Guilty of pining for cake over here.
layer after layer of awesomeness
Last week I tried something that I’ve been wanting to do for what seems like forever.
I actually made a flourless cake that was: legit flourless.
It was chocolate with another layer of chocolate, with chocolate frosting, more chocolate on top of that, and even more chocolate after that.
It was everything dreams are made of.
Anyway, since that was a huge success, I wanted to try my hand at a lemon version of this Blackout Healthy Paleo Chocolate Cake.
The results were timeless.
A decadent rich cake made with white sweet potatoes (to keep the colors on point) and frosted with a dreamy lemon coconut frosting, made out of boiled sweet potatoes.
Once again, dreams.
My mom teases me about the way I stuff cauliflower, avocado, and sweet potatoes into my desserts.
But I can’t help it!
For me, it’s not so much just a health thing, as much as… this is really fun stuffing as many veggies as I can into a cake and disguising the flavor.
I think I get a high out of it.
Anyway, if stuffing veggies into cake isn’t for you, I won’t hold it against you.
But I will say: you’re missing out!
I make cakes loaded with regular flour, regular sugar, and coconut oil frosting, but sometimes a cake packed with sweet potatoes and avocado just makes me smile.
Healthy Paleo Lemon Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw white sweet potato minced in food processor
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup cassava flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest about 2 lemons
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups white sweet potato cubed
- 1/4 cup soft medjool dates pitted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1-3 tablespoons lemon juice to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk solid part off the top of can
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar optional for non-paleo
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of two 7" spring form cake pans with rounds of parchment paper.
- In a food processor mince sweet potato. Then in a blender combine all ingredients for cake until smooth.
- Divide batter in-between the two cake pans. Bake on 350F for about 60 minutes, then chill in freezer while you make frosting.
- For frosting, steam sweet potato cubes, then drain water, and chill in ice bath until cool. Then blend ingredients for frosting together in food processor until smooth and chill until ready to frost. See recipe notes on how to top off the cake. Store in fridge.
Recipe Notes
Optional cake toppings: bee pollen, lemon wedges, glaze- either powdered sugar for non-paleo or coconut butter glaze for paleo.