Berry Sheet Cake
This berry sheet cake is soft, lightly sweet, and made easy in one sheet pan. Just whip together the batter, dot it with fresh berries, then pop it in the oven. It’s the perfect summer treat – especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
This is the perfect dessert recipe for any occasion, but it’s especially great for the summer holidays of Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. It’s easy to cut into individual portions and transport to a party, barbeque or beach gathering.
And if you’re eating it at home, top it with a dollop of coconut whipped cream, a sprinkle of powdered sugar, or a scoop of ice cream. It’s couldn’t be easier!
What Is A Sheet Cake?
Unlike my other paleo cake recipes, I’m keeping it short and sweet this time (literally). This berry cake is baked in a rectangular 1/4 sheet pan (jelly roll pan), rather than a round cake pan, which means it’s much thinner than normal. But it makes it easy to slice into squares for a small sweet treat.
Ingredients You’ll Need – Plus A Few Tips
The Dry Ingredients
This cake uses my usual flour triumvirate of almond flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour (as well as baking soda and salt). But the ratios are slightly different to my other cake recipes.
That’s because this sheet cake is much thinner and the berries release quite a bit of moisture. So I slightly increased the amount of coconut flour to absorb some of that moisture, and reduced the liquid ingredients a little. You may notice this batter is thicker than my other cake recipes. That’s how it should be.
The Wet Ingredients
As for the rest of this recipe, you’ll need the below pantry staples.
- Eggs – you just need two eggs here.
- Almond Milk – feel free to use any non-dairy milk such as oat milk or cashew milk.
- Maple Syrup – for a touch of sweetness. But I’ve reduced the amount here to make sure the cake isn’t too wet.
- Coconut Oil – gives this the perfect amount of moisture.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – to gives it the fluff it needs.
- Vanilla Extract – adds that natural sweet depth of flavor.
The Toppings
To top this off, I’m using 3 cups of fresh berries. You can use a mix of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries – or whichever combination you like. Just make sure they are completely dry so that you’re not adding extra moisture.
Baking This Sheet Cake Is Easy
To get started, grease a 9×13-inch sheet pan (a 1/4 sheet jelly roll pan) with oil, ghee, or butter. Then preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and follow along to the steps below.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix together the wet ingredients in another bowl. Then whisk together both dry and wet ingredients until a batter is formed. Note that the the batter will be much thicker than normal.
- Pour the batter into the sheet pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.
- Sprinkle on the berries and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until it’s golden brown.
A Few Notes To Perfect This Recipe
- Better to slightly over-bake than under-bake. You want to make sure the middle section of the cake also has a golden color, not just the edges. This will ensure that the entire cake is cooked through. If it’s under-baked, your cake will become way too moist as it cools.
- Use fresh berries, not frozen. Frozen berries hold too much moisture, which will make your cake soggy.
Make Ahead And Storage Tips
Lucky for you, this berry sheet cake can easily be made ahead of time. Once it’s fully cooled, you can store it at room temperature with a kitchen towel over it, or store it in the fridge and serve the next day.
For leftovers, just store the cake in a sealed container for up to 5 days in the fridge.
More Cake Recipes
Whether you’ve got a birthday coming up or just want a sweet treat, these cakes won’t disappoint.
- Paleo Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Amazing Paleo Chocolate Cake
- Gluten-Free Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Mug Cake
And you can’t go wrong with this fruity berry crisp either!
Berry Sheet Cake (gluten-free, dairy-free)
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2/3 cup tapioca flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Berries
- 12-14 ounces fresh berries (approx 3 cups), make sure they're completely dry (if recently washed)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and grease a 9x13-inch sheet pan (a 1/4 sheet jelly roll pan).
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir together.
- Add all of the wet ingredients to a separate mixing bowl and whisk together. Then, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk for about 30 seconds, until you have a batter.
- Pour the batter into the greased pan and use a spatula to flatten the top.
- Add the berries to the top of the cake and transfer it to the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes, or until golden across the top (not just the edges).
- Once it's cooled, slice and serve!
Lisa's Tips
- This is the 1/4 sheet pan that I used in the recipe.
- If you use as many berries as I show in the photos above, you'll likely need the full bake time. If you reduce the amount of berries, you can likely reduce the bake time as there will be less moisture in the cake.
- You could also serve this slightly warm, if you want melty ice cream on top!
Turned out perfectly for Memorial Day 2023. I used frozen berries after thawing and straining (and saved the 1/3 cup juice for something else). I substituted the 2 eggs with 6T apple sauce. I reduced the maple syrup by 2T. Served with whipped cream. Delicious and easy.
Glad this worked out perfectly for Memorial weekend!
This is one of my favorite recipes! It’s sweet, but not that sweet. Perfect for a dessert or a yummy breakfast on the go.
Hi Lisa
any chance i could use frozen berries?
Can’t wait to try this :)
Dafi
I suggest to use fresh berries to make sure your cake doesn’t become too soggy. But, if you defrost them first, that might work.
I’d like to make this soon, but can I substitute Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 flour in place of the almond flour in the same amount? Making it for someone with nut allergies. Thanks
I haven’t tried this without almond flour. But you can try it and let me know how it turns out Carolyne!
Yum! A great not too sweet dessert / snack. We loved it topped with fresh sliced berries in their juice with a little coconut sugar. Thank you Lisa – even my husband liked it!! :)
Glad you enjoyed this berry sheet cake Lori! Thanks for leaving a review :)
Lisa,
I made this recipe for Memorial Day and it was a huge hit! My only question is that I wasn’t sure how to add the coconut oil.. is it supposed to be melted first or just added in as a solid? The recipe didn’t say to melt it, so I just added it as a solid, but I kept thinking it may be easier and smoother if it was melted first. Can you please advise how you incorporate the coconut oil?
Thank you for such a great recipe!
Kristin
Happy to hear this cake turned out nonetheless! But the coconut oil should be melted.
What can I substitute tapioca flour with to make it diabetic friendly? I would love to make this, but being diabetic I should not eat tapioca flour. Hope you have advice.
Rice flour could work as a substitute for tapioca flour in this recipe, but I haven’t tried it to know if it would be a 1:1 swap.
I made half a batch (with blueberries on top) and baked them in a regular size muffin tin. I was worried about them getting too thick and not cooking all the way, so I only filled up the cups about half way.
It made 8 muffins and baked in 28 minutes. They were delicious! I’ll definitely make these again.
Deliscious cake! I doubled the wet ingredients and made it more like a proper cake and because the batter was not only dry, it was more like a crumble. Came out fantastic! I may try it the way it’s written next time. And there will be a next time!
Can’t wait to see how your second try goes Viviana :)
Hey Lisa! I’m looking forward to trying out this sheet cake for a gathering over the 4th of July weekend 8) Any recommendations for baking this in a glass dish rather than a metal sheet pan? My pan is 9×13.
Love your meal prep videos (been using them consistently for months now, they have *changed my life!*) and now starting to take on your desserts. I’ve made your chocolate zucchini bread and your vegan chocolate chip cookies, both huge hits with my gf and non-gf friends. Thank you for everything!
Hi Lindsey – I don’t think you should run into any issues baking the cake in a glass dish. And so happy you’re enjoying my meal prep videos and other recipes as well! :) Happy 4th of July!
Pretty good tasting and very pretty. I think the organic berries I use might be juicier than the ones in the recipe, because after cooking, the middle of cake was too moist while edges were too dry. Not sure how to fix that?
Also I added a tiny bit lemon flavoring because why not? :) I think it went well!
Very yummy!
Glad you enjoyed this berry sheet cake Tiffany :)
What can we use as a substitute for tapioca flour and apple cider vinegar?
You can use arrowroot powder for the tapioca flour and any light colored vinegar.