Let’s get the truth out right from the start: those doggone boxed cake mixes are moist and delicious, every time. They’re almost impossible to mess up. They’re also loaded with preservatives, and usually trans fat is only one of its ingredient transgressions.
Two years ago, when I was more or less just beginning the traditional food journey in spite of the fact that I had been doing many “healthy eating” habits for years, I knew I had to find something other than the boxed cake mix in my basement when Paul’s birthday rolled around. I scoured the web for a simple, basic white cake recipe. I wasn’t even shooting for “healthy” or “nourishing”…just not “deadly to the nth degree.”
I made a from-scratch, white cake with white flour and white sugar. Cake recipes are rather complicated, with detailed instructions about how long to cream the butter and sugar and how to add a third of the flour mixture, then half of the liquid, then more flour…It’s a far cry from my favorite one-bowl muffins, and I sweated my way through it with high expectations for the perfect cake.
It was on the dry side and pretty mundane, everyone agreed.
Sigh.
At least I got to use real butter and healthy eggs. (Last year’s Elmo birthday cake and one-year-old photo cupcakes)
Since a “normal” cake wasn’t that great anyway, I figured I couldn’t do much worse with a part whole-grain recipe this year! I got the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook for Christmas, and it has yet to disappoint. It was a relief to avoid the Google searching to find healthy birthday cake recipes for both kids.
When I evaluate a baking recipe for overall “healthy” rating, I like to see what kind of ratio the flour vs. sugar is. Many quick bread recipes, for example, will have 2 cups flour and 1 cup sugar, a 2:1 ratio. That’s not great, but much better than many cakes, which get closer to 1:1! These cakes are 3:1 and 1-1/2:1, which really aren’t bad. They also have 2-3 times as much whole grain flour as white, with only 1 cup white flour each.
I realize white flour and white sugar aren’t good for you…but I wasn’t shooting for dense sourdough whole wheat bread here. That’s why the “balance” is in my tagline. These are birthday cakes, and they’re exponentially better than a boxed mix!
Recipe: Coconut Cake
Everyone gave good reviews to this unique cake, which adds a cup of shredded coconut that I count against the white flour in the 3:1 ratio of whole grain to white. I’m thinking of using coconut flour next time to avoid the mouthfeel of the little pieces of coconut in the cake, in which the coconut flavor is evident but not overwhelming. It is just as moist as a boxed mix cake (yesssssss!) and truly delicious, not just “this is good for a whole grain cake.” If I had been home for my birthday, I would have made one for myself!
Ingredients:
King Arthur provides all measurements by weight as well, for those of you amazing bakers who use a scale. I’ll just share the volume measurements, as I’m not so fancy as that.1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (may I just say I love that they include the “unbleached” part? You know there’s a healthy consciousness there!)
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups superfine or granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 large egg whites
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup plain yogurt
Notes on ingredients: The original called for sweetened coconut, but unsweetened went great. I used organic sugar (evaporated cane juice) from Wholesome Sweeteners as part of my test of their products (and they have an awesome prize package for my readers, too! Think holiday baking…). The original also called for coconut extract, which I didn’t have, so I doubled the vanilla. Also, it’s so exciting to find a recipe that calls for egg whites, because I always have them hanging around from making homemade mayo and Caesar dressing. Do not try to substitute any other kind of flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. Regular whole wheat would not generate a happy texture in a cake. Pastry flour is a totally different beast and well worth the investment if you want to dabble in whole grain biscuits or cakes.
Method:
Choose either two 9-inch round pans, one 9×13 pan, 24 cupcakes, or a 15×20 sheet cake pan. Grease pans with butter and flour them thoroughly, or line with parchment paper.
Whiz the coconut and all-purpose flour in a food processor until the pieces are quite small. (The original recipe called for 30 seconds, but after realizing that you can feel them in the final cake, and that’s not the greatest mouthfeel, I would process longer or use coconut flour.) Set aside.
Cream butter, baking powder, sugar, salt and vanilla in a large mixing bowl at least five minutes until fluffy and light. I set a timer to keep myself honest.
Add the egg whites to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each one.
Stir 2/3 cup of the whole wheat pastry flour into the batter, then a ½ cup yogurt, then 2/3 cup more flour, ½ cup yogurt, and the final 2/3 cup flour, mixing well between each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as well between each ingredient.
Add the coconut and flour mixture all at once, stirring until the batter is evenly mixed.
Pour into your prepared pans and bake in a preheated oven at 350F.
- 9-inch rounds or cupcakes: 21-23 minutes
- 9×13 pan: 30-33 minutes
- sheet cake: 25-30 minutes
Test for doneness by poking with a toothpick and watching for the cake to pull away from the edges of the pan slightly. Because of the whole grains, checking to see if the cake springs back when you depress a finger does not work as a doneness test.
Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting. You can freeze the layers for 30 minutes to make frosting easier.
King Arthur offers a coconut frosting as well, but I used my mom’s famous almond-flavored frosting. We don’t do birthday cakes without it! She used Crisco all my life, but I’ve had good success substituting real butter, or even coconut oil (in the winter only). I used Wholesome Sweeteners organic powdered sugar. 
Recipe: Classic Butter Cake (with whole grain)
This basic butter cake was good, probably better than the white flour version I made last year, but there was no hiding the whole grains. People will notice, but if they’re used to whole grains at all, they won’t mind one bit.
Ingredients:
Begin with all ingredients at room temperature.
2 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup plain yogurt
Notes on ingredients: I used “natural cane sugar,”which is a less refined sugar than pure white, from Wholesome Sweeteners as part of my test of their products (and they have an awesome prize package for my readers, too! Think holiday baking…).It’s funny to see how much darker the cake turns out than a boxed classic yellow: I blame the deeper yellow of my eggs, the whole grain flour, and the fact that unrefined sugar is not bleach white. It all comes through (but not in a bad way).
Method:
Choose either two 9-inch round pans, one 9×13 pan, 24 cupcakes, or a 15×20 sheet cake pan. Grease pans with butter and flour them thoroughly, or line with parchment paper or cupcake liners. (I use the butter wrapper from the recipe itself, and it’s usually the perfect amount of grease.)
Mix the flours, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.
Cream the butter, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, likely about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times.
Mix the vanilla and yogurt together in a separate bowl. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/eggs and mix until uniform. Pour in half the yogurt and beat until fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then let the mixer run on low speed and add another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the yogurt, and the last of the flour, mixing well after each addition and scraping the bowl.
Pour the batter into your chosen pan and bake in a preheated 350F oven:
- 9-inch rounds or cupcakes: 25-27 minutes
- 9×13 rectangular cake: 30-34 minutes
- sheet cake: 27-30 minutes
Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting. (The photo at the top is the classic yellow cake.)
I was a little stuck in a rut this year on size because I packed up my 9-inch round pans in an effort to have less stuff in my cupboards when we put our house up for sale. I’m ready to get my stuff back! There is something to be said for frosting a sheet cake vs. trying to stack layers correctly, I suppose.
I’m just excited that I can make a sort of healthy birthday cake that everyone eats joyfully!
What are your healthier celebration options?
Other healthy desserts:
- 100% Whole Grain Healthy Fruit Pizza
- 100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Walnut Oat Pie Crust (A GF and trans-fat-free alternative to a graham cracker crust)
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My husband and I really enjoy this grainless white cake…it’s very moist and relies on a very low ratio of stevia and honey.
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2009/06/gluten-free-dairy-free-sugar-free.html
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So if I read this correctly there is no soaking in the process? I thought since there was yogurt in the ingredients it might be for that purpose.
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Katie Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Sandy,
I soak when I can, but not all the time. 
Katie
I am not sure if you could soak a cake like this, because of those detailed instructions on how to add the ingredients. Since the eggs have to go in almost first, how can you leave it at room temperature? I also wasn’t about to experiment on a birthday during which I was already adding whole grains!
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Sandy Munroe Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
It’s all good with me. I was just making sure I didn’t miss something.
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Sandy Munroe Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
I frankly like that you’re practical and not strict on such things. After all life is short
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It IS possible to have a fluffy, moist, delicious cake with 100% freshly ground whole wheat. I make a carrot cake with pineapples, carrots, coconut and walnuts. These additions keep the cake EXTREMELY moist, it barely holds together when you slice it.
I also ice it with a cream cheese and honey icing. Nobody knows it is actually a healthy cake!!
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Michelle Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Oh, you should post the recipe for us. Sounds delicious!
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Katie Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Kim,
Katie
Awesome! I make some great quick bread with either pumpkin, chocolate/zucchini or applesauce, and it’s easy to make them 100% whole wheat. The coconut one is just that delicious; I can’t believe I forgot to take a close-up photo of the cut slice.
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Thanks so much! We have a 4th birthday party coming up next month and I’m anxious to try one of your recipes.
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I totally agree. There are varying degrees of ‘healthy’. There has to be some grey area between totally processed food (that we all want to avoid like the plague) and completely healthy (that we aren’t sure will come out the way everyone is expecting). I’ve come to the conclusion that homemade anything is so much better than the process store bought counterparts. Even if you use white flour and white sugar – at least those are the only ingredients, as opposed to all the extra crap they through into the processed.
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thanks for the comments on pastry flour vs regular. when i’m at the store i always convince myself to just get all purpose and it always disappoints when making artisan breads. why nother to go through all the trouble to have heavy bread? [esp since I don't make it as often with one of us GF] thanks for the kick in the rear!
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Katie Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Johanna,
Katie
Just remember that pastry flour is actually not good for breads, as it’s too light and will make bread crumbly. Just pastries!
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Thanks for the recipes. I’ve also started making healthier birthday cakes. My version is just a standard recipe of white flour, eggs, butter, vanilla and sugar. I found onw which has a lot of butter so it ends up quite moist. I like to add ripe plums or berries on top. To make it healthier I substitute white sugar for rapadura. People don’t seem to mind the darker colour and more caramely flavour of the sugar.
I know white flour is not good for you but I thought unsoaked/sprouted wholewheat flour was not good for you either due to phytic acid and not so digestible…? So I stopped using wholewheat in cakes and just stick to white flour. Maybe I’m wrong to do this?
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kim Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
The jury is out on phytic acid. Many people say that even if it is harmful, the methods of soaking/sprouting we use don’t really do much to get rid of it.
The problem with phytic acid is simply that it prohibits some of the nutrients from being absorbed.
White flour on the other hand has no nutrients to begin with and is BLEACHED on top of that. Yes, they use actual BLEACH! Gross, so basically, white flour is poison.
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Michelle Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
You can buy unbleached white flour at many (if not all by now!) stores. It amazes me how many “food” items contain bleach! (Like those oh-so convenient but I won’t touch them with a ten foot pole baby carrots…)
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Sarah W Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
what?! baby carrots are bleached? (I don’t buy them typically, but I am still shocked.)
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Michelle Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Here’s a blog post with more information: http://greenandcleanmom.org/carrots-and-bleach-yum-yum/. Of course, if you read the links they will assure you that they chlorine levels are harmless. But really, I’d rather not feed my family veggies that are sprayed with bleach. I know that my water is chlorinated and that my water filter probably doesn’t remove it all, but the less the better, right?
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Katie Reply:
August 14th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Olivia,
For some folks, white flour is metabolized so much like white sugar that it really hurts their systems, and whole grains, within an otherwise very nutrient dense diet, are the better option. It’s still sort of a toss up for me. 
Katie
You know…who knows? Maybe that’s why I love the half and half!
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olivia Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I agree. It’s a toss up for me too. That’s also why when I do use just white flour I try to find recipes with a high fat to flour/sugar ratio. It helps slow down the release of sugar into the body and I can use healthy organic pastured butter. I like the fact that your 1st recipe can use up those egg whites though. I can’t keep up with using mine up.
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I love this recipe for Chocolate Applesauce Cake — all whole wheat flour, I think the applesauce keeps it moist! (You can also increase the milk for added moisture.)
http://livingsimply.weebly.com/chocolate-applesauce-cake.html
I frost with Neverfail Chocolate Frosting:
http://livingsimply.weebly.com/never-fail-chocolate-frosting.html
.-= Beth´s last blog ..Asher\s Unplanned Homebirth Story =-.
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Glad to see you plugging this cookbook. i bought it last spring and use it every day! I credit it with starting me on my journey toward healthy eating. Today, I made peach quick bread as a treat, had the maple granola with yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, and had a veggie sandwich on the 100% whole wheat bread. I’ve made the chocolate cake as cupcakes, which were a huge hit, and the lemon pound cake for my bday.
.-= michiel´s last blog ..7 Quick Takes- July 8 =-.
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Thanks for the cake recipes…just in time for our October birthday bash (three in one month!). You did a lovely job decorating them too.
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Michelle, may we please have the recipe for your “mom’s famous almond-flavored frosting?” My grandsons will be visiting from very far away on their birthdays–I’m saving these to my recipe file just for that purpose. Thank you!
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Katie Reply:
August 14th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Miranda,
Katie
Perhaps I can make it one of next week’s posts!
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Pretty cakes! What is the recipe for the frosting and how do you color it?
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thanks for sharing! I just finished making a birthday cake for DS1 who turns 4 tomorrow. It’s not healthy by any stretch, but at least it is “all natural.”
Do you have any clever way of keeping track of how many egg whites you have frozen? I have some in a couple different containers that are several ounces, so could hold several egg whites. I think I already poured new(er) egg whites onto the previously frozen ones, but I didn’t label it thusly and now I really can’t remember how many might be in that container!
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Katie Reply:
August 14th, 2010 at 1:20 am
Sarah,
Katie
Sounds like my freezer! If I got serious about keeping track, I’d put them individually into ice cube trays.
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I have the King Arthur 200th Anniversary cookbook and I love it! I don’t know if this is similar to yours, but my favorite part is how they give a basic recipe and then tell you how to substitute various classes of ingredients (sweeteners/fats/etc.)
My favorite go-to birthday cake recipe is the Applesauce Cake with Caramel Creme frosting from the cookbook that came with my Kitchenaid Mixer. The cake is not bad (whole wheat flour, applesauce, apples), but the frosting more than makes up for it with the marshmallows in it.
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Love the creative b’day cakes…looks like your kids loved them, too. =)
Another vote for your mom’s frosting recipe!! =) I used to have an almond decorator recipe that used crisco…I can’t find it and would love to try it with butter…
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Thanks for sharing!
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This post makes me so happy!!! I have been wanting to make a healthier (but moist!) cake option but just haven’t found one. These look great! Any chance of you posting your mom’s frosting recipe?! I see that many others are interested too.
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Katie Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 4:46 am
Oh, twist my arm!
I posted the almond frosting today, right here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/08/16/recipe-connection-moms-famous-almond-frosting/
Katie
Enjoy!
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You must have been reading my mind. I have several birthdays in Sept. and was planning to start searching for cake recipes. Thanks!!!!
Also, thanks for your practicality in your posts. We all try to do the best we can. Some times I get so caught up in trying to prepare the “best” recipes that I stress myself out. Stress isn’t good for me either so I have to relax and remember what is important. It’s not like I am going to avoid all family or social functions because of the food being served.
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Can you make the coconut cake without the coconut?
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Katie Reply:
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Angie,
Katie
I can’t say that I’ve tried it, but a reader tried with coconut flour and it wasn’t so great. I wonder if you could use a cup of something else in place of the coconut. Hmmm… Maybe just a bit more flour? That’s a tough one. I take it you don’t like coconut?
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Hi Kaite,
I just found this website and I am going to try to make your whole wheat cookies and cake! I was reading some of the comments people have been writing and in one of them you mention you make pumpkin, chocolate/zucchini bread. Do you also make that with whole wheat? If so, would you be able to post those recipies!
please!!
Thank you!
Gaby
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Katie Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 1:32 am
Gaby,
I bet many choc zuch bread recipes would work great with white whole wheat flour if you find a moist enough one online.
Katie
Welcome! The pumpkin bread is right here and has a whole wheat variation, but I haven’t published the chocolate zucchini bread. I will have to put it on my list!
Hope you love the treats!
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I could probably use almonds. I will give it a try soon. Thank you for the fast feedback. I lovin it!
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Ok, I have to know – how exactly did you do the Wii character? What type of frosting did you use? My 13 yo daughters’ party is this saturday and they are playing Wii for part of it. I should decorate her cake with her character, but no idea how to do it!
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Katie Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 3:15 am
Tara,
Katie
This might be too late to help, but I just used my normal homemade frosting (http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/08/16/recipe-connection-moms-famous-almond-frosting/), the Wilton decorator thingy, and an hour or two of careful work! The big parts are probably applied with a butter knife, to be honest. I flub my way through a lot of things… Have a great party!
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Mom4Life Blog » Ashlyn’s Castle Birthday Cake // Jan 5, 2011 at 12:39 am
[...] I did make the cakes from scratch so I was a little more emotionally invested. I tried out this whole grain birthday cake recipe with almond butter [...]
Thanks for the recipes! I made the whole wheat butter cake and everyone enjoyed it. As you said, you can taste the wheatiness, which DH noticed right away, but he commented a few times (on subsequent servings!) that is was a really good cake!
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Now I’ve just made the coconut cake for Easter tomorrow. I did use coconut flour and the batter was VERY thick. (However, I think I also failed to cream the butter and sugar for a full 5 min. Don’ t know how much difference that makes.) I had to really spread/mash it into the pan. Just skimming the comments I saw you mentioned someone else used coconut flour without great results. I’ll have to see how it tastes tomorrow!
I guess on the upside, other people are bringing desserts over, so there will be plenty of options if the cake isn’t superb. I’ll try to remember to report back.
(Too bad if coconut flour is not a good substitute, b/c I was glad not to have to get out another appliance for that step!)
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Katie Reply:
April 24th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Sarah,
Katie
Hope to hear how it went! I’m curious – what a good cake for Easter, though.
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Well, it went pretty well. My family did say that they liked the cake, and better than the other desserts (store bought) that were offered. I think it was good too, but very dense, not cakey. Clearly a cup of coconut flour is much more dense than a cup of shredded coconut, so if it might be different if one reduced the total amount of coconut flour, but I’d like to try it with the shredded coconut next time to compare for myself. My sisters thought that shredded coconut would probably have a more coconutty flavor that they would have liked to have had in the cake. (They didn’t notice the coconut flavor very much. And I used the almond frosting recipe.)
Bottom line though – people ate it and they liked it!
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My friend tried the coconut cake recipe with coconut flour substituted for the coconut. She said it was really dense, so she experimented and added 1 c canned coconut milk and another 5 egg whites. She also changed up the order of the recipe. The results? An extremely good cake that still had a “healthy” texture, but not so dense that a “normal” person wouldn’t eat it. Her recipe follows:
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. canned coconut milk
1 c. plain yogurt
2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. coconut flour, sifted
1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
10 egg whites
Grease two 9″ round pans with butter and flour them thoroughly.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and light – about a minute or two. Add the coconut milk and yogurt, mixing until combined.
In a medium bowl sift together the pastry flour, coconut flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl occasionally. This will take a couple of minutes.
Place the ten egg whites in a clean, dry bowl. Beat on high for about five minutes, until you have meringue. Fold the egg whites into the batter, about 1/3 at a time, gently and quickly. Don’t spend much time on this step. You will see several pockets of egg whites in the batter.
Pour into your prepared pans and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350F. Test for doneness by poking with a toothpick and watching for the cake to pull away from the edges of the pan slightly. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting.
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Katie Reply:
June 30th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Wow, thank you for sharing! That is a pretty awesome recipe edit, and what a great way to use up egg whites from mayo and Caesar dressing – I always have too many!
Katie
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What? You said you made a yellow cake, do you have the recipe for that? My family loves yellow cake/choc frosting.
And I know there are many things I should be able to do with it.
I have been googling for hours with no success about the following. I have a bag of soft white wheat berries that everything I read says is for baking cookies, cakes, muffins, etc. but I haven’t found one recipe. Do you know anything about soft wheat? I want to try using it to make my daughter’s birthday cake coming up in a week. I’m cutting it close and have no time for an experiment. Should I just give in and go get flour at the store? Also, for the future, if you could have one baking book for bread/pastries, what would it be? Forgive me for all the questions, but I’m kind of at a total loss here holding a 50 lb bag of soft wheat berries! LOL
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Katie Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Keala,
Soft wheat makes “whole wheat pastry flour” once milled, so any recipe that calls for part or all whole wheat pastry flour is what you want.
The classic butter cake was pretty yellow…I think that’s what you want. ??? You can see more photos of the cut cake at the frosting post.
I don’t use many cookbooks, mostly online recipes, BUT I do have one for bread and baking, and it’s King Arthur’s, where the coconut cake in this post came from. Awesome. You can click the link from that recipe to view the book I have.
I hope that helps!
Katie
PS – try homemade biscuits with the pastry flour (http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/recipes/homemade-biscuits/) and use it in any muffin recipe. Enjoy!
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Thanks that gives me some ideas and I just made delicious banana bread using 2/3 of flour that is called for with soft wheat.
So i wont make cake with it because cake recipes don’t call for whole wheat pastry flour; however they do call for CAKE FLOUR sometimes which I read is made from soft wheat but i dont know what else. IF ANYONE KNOES WOULD LOVE INFO. It is supposed to make it lighter…i will experiment some other time. Thank you for responding so promptly. God bless you and what you do.
p.s. ya nevermind the yellow cake part .. apparently boxed yellow cake is dyed to look yellow. Lol. I’m still new to baking healthily.
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Katie Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Keala,
Cake flour is refined, though, just white flour, so you need to look for healthy cake recipes to find the pastry flour.
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KarenL Reply:
December 7th, 2011 at 12:57 am
@ Keala – I’ve not checked in to this since I’ve changed our eating ways, but my aunt told me to add 2 Tbsps of corn starch to each cup of flour to make cake flour
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