Here’s a great wheat-free cake that is also free of almond flour and coconut flour. Do you realize the awesomeness of this!? Finding a wheat free cake that also doesn’t have coconut or almond flour is like finding a jade unicorn! Not that I don’t enjoy those flours, but I have my reasons to abstain. Avoiding wheat flour in cakes helps keep my blood sugar low, which helps me maintain my 70 lb. weight loss from two years ago. I have inherited a tendency towards insulin resistance so I have to watch my carb intake. But it can’t be so low that my hormones and sleep get out of whack. I experienced that in the fall of 2016, after being low carb for 18 months. I have a sweet spot for the right carb amount every day. (If you want to learn more about finding your sweet spot I suggest the book, The Blood Code by Dr. Richard Mauer.)

OK, back to the recipe! To keep the right sweet spot I have been using Trim Healthy Mama (THM) recipes to help balance all these factors. I do enjoy carbs,  but mostly keep them separated from fats. So I love all the THM recipes which allow me to do that. (Scroll below to the * at the bottom of this post if you want to read more of my reasons for making this cake.) (Also see this post to see how to do THM frugally.)

I was inspired to make this recipe by adapting the “Time for Lime Cake or Cupcakes” recipe in the THM Cookbook, p. 306.  I took out the lime juice and essential oil, and the spinach, included in the original recipe to make it turn green, as well as the coconut and almond flours. So, as a result, we have a Basic Yellow Cake that is free of wheat, coconut, and almonds. I love this cake, it is perfect for birthdays or springtime festivities!

Basic White or Yellow Cake

Grease a 9×13 pan, or a bigger, jellyroll pan if you want a sheet cake

Mix up the following:

6 eggs

3 cups white or garbanzo beans, drained, and pureed in blender (The white beans make the cake white, as shown in the photo above, the garbanzo beans make the cake yellow, see photo below)

1/2 c ground golden flaxseed meal

1/2 c oat fiber

1-2 c alternate healthful sweetener of choice, like sucanat, if not doing THM (Start with 1 cup and taste test the batter and add more if needed, if you dare the risk of salmonella from the raw eggs, haha. If using a THM sweetener to make this a THM-S recipe, start with 1 1/2 cup Gentle Sweet or 3/4 cup Super Sweet and then taste test the batter and add more if needed. I just know some people like their cakes sweeter than others. I tend to like mine sweeter!)

4 T butter, melted on low heat. Get it melting while you mix in the other stuff!

2 T vanilla extract (replace with 10 to 20 drops lemon essential oil for a lemon-y cake)

1 T baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t mineral salt

Pour batter in pan and bake for 35 to 40 min, until a fork inserted indicates doneness.

Let cool and then frost.

Vanilla Frosting

Mix up the following, unless you want to just top the cake with whipped cream and berries (double the recipe if you want a thick layer of frosting):

8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese or Greek yogurt

cashew milk or water to desired consistency (start with 1/4 cup)

1 T vanilla (or use 1 to 2 T cocoa if you want a chocolate frosting, or a few drops lemon EO, if you made the lemon cake)

sweetener to taste

pinch of salt if you use stevia as the sweetener (stevia always needs a little salt to round out its sharply sweet taste)

Frost the cake when cooled and enjoy! Try not to inhale all at once!

The photo below shows the cake made with garbanzo beans.

*The trouble with THM baked goods for my family is that they tend to have coconut and almond flours, which are both in the THM baking blend. I don’t mind almond and coconut flours but my teenage son is allergic to them. The last time he ingested almond flour by accident he was the sickest I have ever seen him!  Too sick to go to the end of season banquet for his football team and passed out on the couch, barely conscious. These allergic attacks tend to happen at homeschool functions when he forgets to ask what is in the food being offered, and I’m not with him so can’t remind him. So whenever I make a THM recipe I have to decide if it’s just for me, or for the whole family to share. If it’s for the whole family to share I have to adjust the recipe so we avoid anaphylactic shock. This time I made a Yellow Cake THM-S that was for the whole family, even my teenage son, to share.