Blueberry Cake Bars with Almonds
These mini blueberry cake bars with almonds are a super treat – perfect for picnics and lunch boxes! They’re very similar to friands – made with ground almonds and fresh blueberries. These blueberry almond cakes are a unique sweet and sharp treat!
I’m not entirely sure why I love these so much, but there’s really no denying it – they’re incredibly addictive! If I make a batch of blueberry almond bars, they’ll never last long. This just proves how delicious they are if nothing else!
I’ve just adored these blueberry almond cakes – I really can’t say it enough – they’re so unique as they combine the joy of nice, freshly baked cake with healthy food! The flaked almonds are crunchy, while the blueberries are juicy – it’s a perfect combination!
They’re deliciously fruity, nutty, soft and cakey – just like regular friands but more perfect for on-the-go snacks! They’re much lighter than cupcakes and are delicious with a nice piping hot tea or coffee.
My mum always says that they’re a grown-up cake, but I know plenty of children who’ll rush to have one and then enjoy every single bite! After all, they’re essentially light little cupcake bars with blueberries and nuts – everyone has to like something that delicious!
If you aren’t a fan of blueberries, then you can easily swap them out for raspberries – or if it’s Winter then fresh cranberries make a delicious treat! Really, most berries work well – so try any that you like! If this is the case, you might want to try my raspberry friand cakes – they’re brilliant for afternoon tea!
What do I need to make these cake bars?
Most of the ingredients for these blueberry cake bars are very common here, and you likely already have at least most of them already. You just need:
- Unsalted butter to add fat that gives the cake bars a lovely flavour
- Seeds from half a vanilla pod or a little bit of vanilla extract – because no cake is complete without vanilla!
- Icing sugar for a light, delicate sweetness that’s evenly spread throughout every bite
- Regular, plain flour to give the cakes their structure
- Ground almonds, which replace some of the flour that you’d use in regular cake bars and also give these blueberry almond bars their delicate, nutty flavour
- A tiny sprinkle of cinnamon. This is optional, but I highly recommend it as it just adds a lovely flavour to the bars!
- a pinch of salt – quite literally!
- Medium egg whites. It’s important to only use the whites rather than the whole eggs as the whites help to keep the cakes light – the yolks make things denser and richer. It’s also important to use medium egg whites as otherwise you’ll be changing the ratio of ingredients which can drastically affect the texture and flavour of these cake bars.
- Fresh blueberries for their lovely juicy fresh flavour!
- Zest of an orange, to give the almond bars a slight hint of citrus which helps add to the light flavour
- Caster sugar, but only a little, to coat the fresh blueberries
- Flaked almonds to decorate the tops of the cake bars
It’s important to use the correct sizes of egg whites and only the whites as otherwise these cake bars may become dense or otherwise wrongly-textured – which we definitely don’t want!
But really, all of these ingredients are very common and you shouldn’t have any troubles finding them! This also means that they shouldn’t be too expensive, although the prices of ground almonds can vary!
How do I make these almond bars?
The method for these cake bars is really very simple – very similar to the method for most cakes, but with a few minor differences.
- Preheat the oven and lightly grease the bar tin
- In a pan, gently melt the butter with vanilla and set aside to cool.
- Sift the icing sugar and flour together into a separate bowl with salt, then add the ground almonds and cinnamon. It’s important to sift the flour and sugar as this incorporates air into them which will help to keep these almond bars light and fluffy.
- Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they just start to thicken. Again, this adds extra air into the mixture.
- Add the egg whites, melted butter mixture and orange zest into the dry ingredients and gently stir them together using a metal spoon or spatula.
- Lightly coat the blueberries with the caster sugar and spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Stud the bars with the blueberries and a few of the flaked almonds.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Leave to cool in the tin and dust with icing sugar before serving, or wrap with greaseproof paper to take out for picnics or put inside lunch boxes.
Really, they’re very simple – just a handful of steps and a couple of bowls and you’re sorted! Trust me, they’re more than worth the work you put into making them – I know you’ll agree with me when you taste them!
Blueberry Cake Bars with Almonds
Ingredients
- 100 g unsalted butter
- seeds from half of a vanilla pod or half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 120 g icing sugar
- 40 g plain flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 80 g ground almonds
- Small sprinkle of cinnamon optional but a delicious addition
- 3 medium egg whites
- fresh blueberries
- 1 orange zest only
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- flaked almonds for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160º Fan
- Lightly grease a 12 Hole loose-based rectangle bar tin from Lakeland but you can also use fairy cake cases in the tin to cook them.
- In a pan gently melt the butter with the vanilla seeds or extract. Set aside to cool.
- Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl with the salt and add the ground almonds and cinnamon.
- Whisk the egg whites in separate bowl just until they start to thicken.
- Add the egg whites, melted butter and orange zest in to the dry ingredients.
- Stir together to combine using a metal spoon or spatula.
- Lightly coat the blueberries with the sugar.
- Spoon the mix in to the prepared tin and stud with a few blueberries depending on size and add a few of the flaked almonds.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Leave to cool in the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.
- Or they are perfect to wrap up in greaseproof paper and take out for picnics and lunch boxes.
Add more blueberries… check out these brilliant blueberry recipes from other bloggers
Icelandic Blueberry Skyr Smoothie by Foodie Quine
Banana blueberry ripple ice-cream by Family Friends Food
Banana Weetabix Blueberry Muffins by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Easy Vegan Blueberry Muffins by Recipes from a Pantry
Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira Cake by Supper in the Suburbs
Caramelised Blueberry Blondies by Tin and Thyme
Follow me on instagram to see what other cakes I’ve been making recently. www.instagram.com/sewwhite
6 Comments
Helen @ familyfriendsfoodblog
March 26, 2018 at 9:33 pm
Those look fab! Blueberry and almonds is a yummy combination.
Sew White
March 27, 2018 at 1:28 pm
Thank you so much! It was hard photographing them as I really wanted to eat them asap
Dannii
March 27, 2018 at 8:59 am
These look like the perfect afternoon treat. I just love blueberries and almonds together.
Sew White
March 27, 2018 at 1:28 pm
Me too. Makes me feel like a grown up too eating these.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
March 27, 2018 at 7:06 pm
I am sooooo keen to try everyone of these recipes 🙂
Raspberry Friand Cupcakes for Afternoon Tea – Sew White
June 18, 2020 at 1:39 pm
[…] are small, very light almond cakes that often feature fruit – like my blueberry almond cake bars, which are actually friands in disguise! After all, fruit and almonds go brilliantly together to […]