Moist blackberry pumpkin bread with amazing banana coconut frosting
Who wouldn’t want to eat cake that doesn’t cause your waistline to expand like the usual suspects do? This cake has zero added sugar and no flour either yet it tastes amazing. It’s full of the pumpkin pie spices including cinnamon, clove and nutmeg which mix with the pumpkin to give you that lovely autumnal mix of flavours.
The sweetness of the dates, pumpkin, and banana in the frosting (which I am addicted to) serve to make it taste very sweet, but the secret is pairing this natural sweetness with some superhero health weapons. These help slow down the fruit sugars from spiking your blood sugar which in turn stops the hormonal cascade that would normally cause fat storage.
The fibre from the oats, pumpkin, dates and bananas along with the protein in the nuts and the beautiful cinnamon all work together to slow any negative and ageing effects of sugar that you normally get when eating baked goods.
As an added bonus, this pumpkin bread looks very pretty and is great to serve when you have people over. All around, this healthy cake is a winner both on the health and taste front. Oh go on then – go ahead and get yourself a slice or two!

Moist blackberry pumpkin bread with amazing banana coconut frosting
Ingredients
DRY
- 2 cups nuts I used 1 cup almonds, ½ cup pecans and ½ cup brazil nuts
- 2 cups oats
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
-
Pinch
ground nutmeg
WET
- 2 cups pumpkin puree I stuck 3 mini-pumpkins (squash also works in oven to roast for 40 mins, then pureed in blender – but you can also use canned pumpkin)
- 8 dates
- 1 orange zest plus the whole fruit
- 2 eggs or make chia eggs: 2 Tbsp chia seeds mixed with 6 Tbsp water left to sit for 10 mins
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp minced ginger
-
½
cup
almond milk
or other non-dairy milk
FRUIT
-
1.5
cups
150g fresh blackberries
FROSTING
- 2 bananas
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 4 dates
- 1 Tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 150C (300 F)
-
Add the dry ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until a flour forms
-
Dump the dry ingredients into a bowl
-
Add the wet ingredients to the blender and mix for less than a minute
-
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just barely mixed
-
Dump the blackberries on top and mix briefly
-
Pour the cake batter into a greased cake pan. I use a springform pan like this one, but any medium sized cake pan will do. Bake for approximately 60-70 minutes.
-
While baking, mix together frosting ingredients in a small food processor, and then store the frosting in the fridge to cool
-
Take cake out of the oven and let it cool. Then spread your frosting when you are ready to enjoy your lovely cake! Yummy! I love to let the frosting drizzle down the sides for extra gooey appealingness! Add some extra blackberries on top if you like, as a beautiful garnish. Enjoy your healthy treat!
Recipe Notes
Cook Time:
60-70 mins depending on your oven. This type of cake needs to cook for a longer period on a lower heat than traditional wheat and sugar based cakes.
Main benefits of eating this:
Helps you avoid dangerous wheat and sugar while giving you a beautiful, delicious snack or dessert
Heart healthy
This recipe looks complicated because there are quite a few ingredients, but it’s super easy. You use a blender and a cake pan mostly. I love anything that you can just use a blender to do most of the mixing. It’s really only 15 minutes of hands on time, and the rest of the time, it’s in the oven while you do something else!
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Love the phrase “hormonal cascade” – great visual.
Thanks Rod! If you wanted to read more about it, this is a more in depth look at the hormonal processes around cortisol and sugar: https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml
Now, that looks delish, Laura! Thank you. I will try it on my Meditation Class on Thursday!! Love, Mom xoxo
Great! Let me know how it turns out! xx