A light, airy and extremely fluffy strawberry lemon sheet cake that's only 60 KCals per serving! This cake is not only diet friendly, but it's also delicious and perfect for summer.
The fluffiest, low calorie strawberry lemon sheet cake
I grew up eating and absolutely loving sheet cakes. My nana's treasured recipe notebook from the groovy 60s has hundreds of finger-licking sheet cakes, some simple, others more complex. She used to make summer sheet cakes that are so airy and fluffy it's almost impossible to stop eating them!
For the past month or so I've been trying to be more careful with my sugar intake. This recipe only has 60 calories per serving, and it's so so incredibly delicious. As soon as they came out of the oven, I had about 3 and my partner about 6. I kid you not, I had to fight him off for the last piece!
The strawberry and lemon combination is always a winner. The recipe only calls for one box of strawberries (your usual supermarket 200-250g) and one lemon. The other ingredients are typically things you have in your pantry: flour, eggs, sugar and honey.
As the recipe is very versatile, you can mix it up and add ingredients you love. You can try replacing the strawberries with almost any fruit. You can also add different flavourings - vanilla, lemon, orange, rum, maple syrup and so on. This sheet cake is quite forgiving, so you can whip it up quickly if you have any fruit on hand. Strawberries getting a bit mushy? No worries! Just clean them the best you can, chop them up and add them to this sheet cake.
If you're being extra careful with your diet, simply replace the sugar and honey with natural sweeteners like agave syrup or erythritol (for zero calories).
Recipe
Strawberry Lemon Sheet Cake
Equipment
- 30 x 20 cm (12 x 8 inches) baking tray
Ingredients
- 6 eggs, large
- 20 g honey (1 tbsp)
- 40 g sugar (¼ cup)
- 80 g flour (⅔ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 200 g fresh strawberries, chopped (1 cup)
Instructions
- Pre-heat you oven to 180 °C (360°F) fan assisted. Line a 30cm (12-inch) rectangular baking tray with grease-proof paper.
- Separate 6 egg yolks and whites. In a large bowl, with a hand whisk mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat until they become pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add in 20g of honey and the zest of one lemon and incorporate. Add in 80g of flour one tablespoon at a time and beat into the yolks.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with salt until you achieve soft peaks. Add 2 teaspoon of lemon juice and whip until you achieve stiff peaks.
- Mix in vanilla extract. If needed, add a teaspoon of sugar to make the meringue stiffer.
- Using a spatula, slowly incorporate the egg whites into the yolk and flour mixture. Be careful not to over-mix, so your batter stays super fluffy. The goal is just to combine the ingredients, not to whip them.
- Pour in the batter into the lined tray, levelling the top with a spatula. Top with 200g chopped strawberries or any fruit of choice. Do not overload with too much fruit.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cake cool down completely before slicing. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Video
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- Strawberries - this recipe uses fresh berries for best results. You can also use frozen strawberries, but they will need to be thawed and all excess liquid drained. Other berries or fruit can also be used: raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, pears etc.
- Do not overload the cake with too much fruit, as this can make the cake sink from too much weight.
Terri says
This has become my family's favourite, I did try a smaller version as well. Cut all ingredients in half and used a 8x8 pan still came out perfect
Hanelore Dumitrache says
I'm so happy to hear that Terri! It's also a favourite in my family too, especially in summer when we want a lighter dessert.