Healthy Birthday Cake recipe with Milk Thistle & Rose Hips
Raspberry and Lemon flavor
Grain free, Dairy free, Soy/Corn free, Refined sugar free, MSG free, Low fat... No Nasties!
- By Milla Ezman
- June 13, 2018
- 2 Comments
- Edited by Jisselle Regis
A Healthy Birthday Cake recipe with Milk Thistle & Rose Hips?
Well, when I say that I add herbs everywhere, I’m not exaggerating.
Ever since we started the diet, I was terrified of baking, and it took me 3 years to finally come up with a recipe that turns out great every time!
I bake cakes only for birthdays, that’s why it took so long! At first my cakes were truly awful! But because we limited all baking to a minimum while we were healing, my kids didn’t mind and still loved them! This also lowered their and everyone else’s expectations towards my desserts! (No kidding here!)
This Healthy Birthday Cake recipe with Milk Thistle & Rose Hips is not dense, not too sweet, Has a great lemon/raspberry flavor combination and it is really not hard to make!
Not only can you make it ahead of time, it even tastes 10 times better the next day! Just bake it, set aside, do other Birthday party crazy necessities and decorate with fruit at the last minute!
I used a healthy, dairy-free version of Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting for this cake, but if you want it fat free, use a maple glaze as I did last year. It’ll be all covered in fruit anyway.
Of course it is best to use only organic ingredients!
For my son’s Birthday back in March he asked for a chocolate cake. I used the same recipe and just added cocoa powder into the frosting.
this was my Daughter’s Chocolate Birthday Cake last year(2017), where I used coconut glaze instead of frosting
Grain free, Dairy free, Soy/Corn free, Refined sugar-free, MSG free, Low fat... No Nasties!
Can be adjusted to egg-free by substituting with a flax egg or aquafaba.
Not only can you make it ahead of time, it even tastes 10 times better the next day! Just bake it, set aside and do other Birthday party crazy necessities and decorate with fruit the last minute!
- 1.5 cups cassava flour
- 1.5 cups almond flour or meal
- 1 cup arrowroot flour
- 2 T poppy seeds (optional)
- 2 Tbsp Ground Rose Hips
- 2 Tbsp Ground Milk Thistle
- 1/2 t salt
- juice and zest from 2 lemons & 1 orange (medium)
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 1/2 cup coconut or olive oil (optional)
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 cup water
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups frozen raspberries
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Preheat your oven to 350F. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
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Beat eggs until fluffy. Add honey or maple syrup, oil(if using) and water. Grate the zest from 2 organic lemons and 1 orange, squeeze out the juice and add it to the wet mix.
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Mix the dry and wet ingredients together.
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Quickly mix in 2 cups of frozen raspberries (I used a hand mixer).
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Line the bottom of two 8-inch spring cake pans with parchment paper and divide the batter evenly.
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Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
This recipe is for a two-layer cake.
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Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely. Frost and decorate!
Happy Birthday!
✿Other frozen berries can be used - red raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, currants) but I think the wild raspberries were great here.
✿Poppy seeds are optional, but they go well with the lemony taste.
✿Coconut oil is optional. Last time I didn't use any and it came out great (see the pictures). With coconut oil, it's just a bit less dry.
✿ Arrowroot flour can be substituted with sprouted brown rice flour.
✿Two tips that I know of for gluten-free baking to make it airier:
- mix the lemon juice and baking soda in a spoon right at the end of any recipe to make the fuzzy reaction, and mix in while still foaming.
- Separate the eggs and whisk them until soft picks, then fold in the batter. Makes all the difference!!
Dairy free Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting with Palm Shortening
When I found this frosting idea, I experimented with the ingredient ratios to obtain not too sweet taste so as not to overpower the cake itself. Then I stopped looking for other recipes, because this is perfectly perfect, except for the palm shortening of course, but after all this is a birthday cake and some cheatings are allowed, right?
I didn’t add any flavors or colors to it this time, it blended very well with the fresh berry and lemon flavors.
This frosting is very stable, great for piping designs and can easily be made ahead of time and even frozen. Just double the batch and freeze the extra so you don't have to make it again next birthday!
- 4 Large farm fresh egg whites room temperature
- 1/4 cup maple syrup, honey or maple sugar
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup palm shortening
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add egg whites, maple syrup and lemon juice in your stainless-steel mixer bowl and set it on top of a small saucepan with boiling water in it. Make sure the bottom of the mixer bowl doesn't touch the hot water. Start whisking continuously until its about 160 degrees (because depending on the source of your eggs, you don't want to end up consuming raw eggs). Also, ensure it is not too hot to the touch. If you are using sugar it should be completely dissolved. It will take about 5 min.
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Remove from the heat and transfer the bowl onto the mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until glossy peaks are formed and meringue is cooled to about 90 degrees.
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Reduce to medium speed and begin to add softened room temperature palm shortening. Spoon by spoon at a time and beat well after each edition.
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It will take a while and your mixture will go through some different textures, it may look like it all separated, but just keep on mixing and it will come together.
✿ you can make a chocolate frosting by adding 4-6 tsp of raw cacao powder.
✿ you can add 1-2 tsp homemade vanilla extract
✿ for natural colors:
- maroon to pink - add dried and powder beet or powdered freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries.
- purple - add blackberries, dragon fruit, blueberries (powdered freeze-dried blueberries)
- green - add nettles, spinach, or dried and powdered kale
- yellow - add ground turmeric, powdered freeze-dried mango, pineapple, carrot.
- blue - add red cabbage (see my recipe for natural food colorings below)
Homemade All Natural Food Coloring recipe
I personally don’t see the need to make the coloring, my kid’s are no longer expecting over the top decorated cakes 🙂 I’ve added this recipe just for you!
These are fairly easy to make and can be frozen for later use. Just make a double batch and freeze in ice cubes for easier thawing and measuring.
- 3 cups fresh beets
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp dry ground turmeric
- 1 cup blueberries, blackberries or dragon fruit fresh or frozen (thawed)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup Nettle, dry, fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) can sub with spinach
- ½ cup water
- 1/2 head red cabbage
- 1-2 cups water
- 1/3 tsp baking soda
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For the liquid version: In a blender or food processor, blend the beets and water together until smooth. Strain the beets - the juice is your food coloring.
For the dry version: shred or process your beets in a food processor, spread it in a dehydrator, dry to a crisp on the low setting, grind into powder, pass through a stainless-steel strainer to remove larger specs. Store in an airtight container for up to a year.
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For the liquid version: In a small saucepan, simmer the water and turmeric for 2 to 3 minutes. Allow to fully cool. Play with the concentration of the liquid by increasing or decreasing the amount of turmeric added to the water.
dry: Or use plain ground turmeric to add to your foods, to turn them yellow.
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For the liquid version: Cut half of a red cabbage into fairly small chunks, add water (as little as possible), to cover it in your pot. Simmer for 10-15 min on medium with the lid off, occasionally mixing, strain the liquid out and cool - it'll be purple. But when you add the baking soda, it will turn bright blue!
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for a liquid version: In a blender or food processor, blend the blueberries (dragon fruit or blackberries) and water together until smooth. I like to use frozen berries because they have a better color after thawed. Strain, to remove the skins and pulp from the mix so that you have the purple liquid to color your foods.
For a dry (powdered) version: use organic freeze-dried or dry the blueberries, blackberries or dragon fruit in a dehydrator, then grind into a powder.
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For a liquid food coloring - use fresh or frozen(thawed/drained) spinach or nettle simply juice it or blend and use it as green food coloring.
For dry food coloring - use dry spinach or nettle - grind it into a fine powder in a blender or a spice grinder, pass through a stainless-steel strainer to remove larger specs.
***Store your liquid food colorings in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator or freeze in ice cube trays and thaw before use.
*** Store your dry food colorings in an airtight container for up to a year.
Add your Homemade All-Natural Food Coloring to icings, frostings or batter. Play with ratios, and always start adding low, and if it's not enough - then add more.
Cabbage juice is a PH indicator, it will react to solutions of different PH, hence the color change to blue after adding the baking soda. Like magic!
Just for the fun of it - These are the cakes I used to make before switching to this diet - pretty horrifying, right? (click to enlarge)
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2 thoughts on “Healthy Birthday Cake recipe with Milk Thistle & Rose Hips (GFCFSF)”
Wow how wonderful, A cake that’s actually not bad for your health. Thanks milla, Cant wait to make this sounds very good😍…..But may i ask do i use the whole entire zest skin of the orange and lemon?
Thank you! yes, it isn’t a bad cake 😉 Yes, in this one I zested two whole medium lemons and one medium orange and then their juices. It was perfectly lemony! Raspberries I think, do absorb some of the lemon “zing” and they very much compliment each other. 🙂