Blackberry Yogurt Snack Cake {THM:S}

I’ve brought you 2 frosting recipes…now I present to you……CAKE!

This recipe is my little sisters ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cake. If you were to ask her if she could choose just ONE dessert to have for the rest of her life her response would be this cake!

I came across the recipe for this in a Bon Appetit magazine several years ago. I would make it several times a summer with fresh picked, sun-ripened wild blackberries. So delicious. So refreshing and terribly hard to beat in the dog days of summer. (Which coincidentally, is when my little sisters birthday is!) So yes, this is the birthday cake of her choice EVERY year!

This is the first cake recipe I trimmified, just a few months after I started THM. I shared the recipe and everything on the groups…a few months later, after I had learned more about trimmifying recipes, I was ABSOLUTELY horrified to discover that I had used the SAME AMOUNT of gentle sweet as the sugar the recipe called for! I immediately went and found the posts where I’d shared the recipe and PROMPTLY fixed it!! I sure hope nobody made that recipe and I also have no idea how I didn’t think it was horrifyingly sweet!

The faint hint of citrus from the orange zest & the tangy sweetness from the yogurt and blackberries makes this a PERFECT accompaniment to your afternoon coffee. (Or tea, I love both but tend to drink tea in the afternoon and keep my coffee for the morning!) What’s your preference? Any favorite way to have your afternoon tea/coffee?

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Blackberry Yogurt Snack Cake

Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: dessert
Servings: 18 pieces

Ingredients

  • 10 oz. fresh blackberries (2½ cups)
  • cup erythritol (This is essential. It makes for a crispy, crunchy fruit top!)
  • 1 ¼ cups THM Baking Blend
  • ½ cup oat fiber
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup butter, melted
  • ¾ cup Gentle Sweet (or equivalent of other approved on plan sweetener)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 12 drops orange essential oil (or 1 ½ teaspoons orange extract) see note below
  • teaspoons fresh orange zest (use the zest from 1 large orange. Peel orange and use for a nice E snack!)
  • 1 ⅓ cups nonfat plain greek yogurt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° Grease a 13×9 rectangular pan or a 10 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper, grease parchment paper and dust pan with oat fiber.
  • Arrange berries in single layer in bottom of pan. Sprinkle evenly with erythritol.
  • Whisk baking blend, oat fiber, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Set aside.
  • Using a hand mixer on high, beat melted butter, gentle sweet, vanilla extract, and orange essential oil together until lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down as necessary.
  • Add half of dry ingredients and mix well. Add yogurt and orange zest. Mix well. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix together on high speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl down as necessary.
  • Spread batter evenly over prepared berries in pan, making sure to smooth out top.
  • Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.
  • Place cutting board or desired serving dish immediately over top of cake and flip over. Immediately remove parchment paper, so bottom of cake doesn’t get soggy.
  • Let cool, and then serve!

Notes

Note: I have researched and am comfortable with using essential oils in my baking and cooking. Please do your own research and do what you’re comfortable with.
For extra flair you may lightly sprinkle with an on plan powdered sweetener or serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Making THM my own.

I believe one of the best things about THM is the ability to MAKE IT YOUR OWN! Don’t like sweet peppers in your soup? Just swap it out for another FP veggie. Don’t like quinoa in your soup? Just substitute another approved E grain! Versatility, mamas!

I’m going to share a few things I’ve made my own, and I’d love to see yours! These are all recipe that I’ve tweaked to become my all time favorite flavor (and MAJOR weakness!), Salted Caramel.

Seriously, if I ever come across something that’s Salted Caramel I HAVE to try it. There’s just something about that perfectly sweet/salty/creamy combo!

#1 Sweet Dreams Cookie Bowl Oatmeal (FP), THM cookbook, page 249. I don’t have any pictures for this one.

Now, I LOVE the combo of PB and Chocolate, but sometimes…I just need a change of pace.

I follow the recipe directions but do these tweaks to make it my own:

1. Omit the cocoa powder & pressed peanut flour, replacing with an equal amount of powdered almond butter. (I use this one.)

2. Double the salt.

3. Add butter & caramel flavoring & vanilla extract to taste. (I haven’t measured, but I’m guessing 1/8 tsp. each, with a little more caramel than butter & vanilla.)

4. Use the lesser amount of sweetener, I do sometimes use even less, since without the cocoa powder you don’t have that extra bitterness.

I do enjoy my oatmeal better warm, so I make it ahead of time in glass storage containers, and just pop it into the oven to heat it up. By the time I’m ready for the day it’s at a perfect eating temperature.

#2 Mouthwatering Meringues (Ultra FP). THM cookbook, page 317 (follow mixing and baking instructions in recipe.)

1. Replace the banana flavoring with 1 1/2 teaspoon caramel flavor & 1/2 teaspoon butter flavor.

2. Add 1/4 t. salt along with the sweetener.

3. Increased the sweetener slightly since I have a sweet(er) tooth!

One recipe yielded 1 1/2 gallon jar. I used a large open star piping tip & a pastry bag top pipe these onto the parchment paper.

I love these because they’re an Ultra-FP, so they can be paired with ANYTHING!

#3 Ultimate E Bars, Trim Healthy Table, page 432 (follow recipe directions.)

1. Omit cocoa powder, replacing with an equal amount of powdered almond butter.

2. Replace pecan extract with an equal amount of butter flavoring

3. Decrease vanilla to 1/2 teaspoon.

4. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons caramel extract in place of the remaining vanilla.

5. Increase salt to 3/4 teaspoon, or to taste.

That concludes my first post of tweaks for making Trim Healthy Mama my own! I hope to do a few more posts like this in the coming months.

For the caramel & butter flavorings, the best I’ve come across are THM’s Natural Burst brand.

I buy the powdered almond butter & vanilla at my local health food store, but they can be found online.