A delicious melt-in-the-mouth yet light and crumbly cake filled with homemade labneh and flavoured with mint and rose. The sponge in this recipe for blueberry white chocolate cake is made with the whey leftover from the labneh. It’s also made with wholemeal spelt flour and buckwheat. Works beautifully as a dessert as well as for afternoon tea.
I was so impressed with the labneh and strawberries that we’d made at the Vegetarian Cookery School, that I tried to recreate it the day after we arrived home from Bath. I thought it would make a great cake filling, I just needed a cake for it to go in.
It had to be a white chocolate cake, it just seemed a bit more summery somehow. Strawberry and white chocolate cakes are delicious, so that’s what I planned to do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get hold of any strawberries, or even raspberries. It thus became a blueberry white chocolate cake instead. And very nice it is too.
How To Make Labneh
Labneh is a bit like Greek yoghurt, but slightly thicker and thus creamier. You can use it instead of whipped cream for any number of dishes. If you leave it to drain long enough, it’s thick enough to use as cream cheese.
- Line a sieve with a muslin cloth and place it over a bowl. This will catch the whey.
- Pour the contents of a 500g pot of yoghurt (I use Yeo Valley) into the cloth.
- Tie the top of the cloth with a piece of string or elastic band.
- Hang the cloth up over a kitchen cabinet door handle or tap with the bowl place underneath it.
- Leave to drain overnight.
- Use some of the whey for the cake and make scones or soda bread with the rest. Whey is also a really useful activator for fermented vegetables, such as sauerkraut. Pour it into a clean sealed bottle and store it in the fridge. It will keep well for at least a couple of weeks.
Blueberry Rose White Chocolate Cake
Pair labneh and fruit together and you have an easy but delicious pudding. However, as in this case, it also makes an excellent cake filling. I’ve never used whey in a cake before, but thought I’d try it out as I’ve had such success using yoghurt recently. It worked well, giving a moist sponge that melted in the mouth yet somehow managed to be crumbly at the same time.
You need to allow some time to make this blueberry rose white chocolate cake. The actual cake is easy, but the labneh needs to drain overnight, so you will have to prepare it the night before. Alternatively if you want it as an evening dessert, you can get the labneh going first thing in the morning.
You also need to make the rose and mint syrup in advance as you’ll need it to marinade the fruit.
Although a little on the sweet side, this blueberry white chocolate cake is totally delicious. CT reckons it’s a good summer cake, light and moreish. Moorish even, with the taste of rose conjuring up images of eastern potentates. His excuse for such flights of fancy is that his blood sugar level was rather low at the time of tasting.
The only thing missing from this gorgeous cake were friends to share it with. And the location. It should have been eaten down at our plot with the sun shining instead of in our house with the rain speckling the windows.
Blueberry White Chocolate Cake: Top Tips
- Swap the blueberries for strawberries, raspberries or blackberries.
- Works well as dessert or afternoon tea, but best eaten with a fork.
- For most efficient timings, make the syrup at the same time as the labneh, then soak the blueberries in the syrup just before you start to make the cake. You can mix up the labney whilst the cakes are cooling.
- For a deeper cake, use 20 cm (8 inch) cake tins and bake for twenty five minutes.
- If you have any leftover syrup from the cake, it makes a very nice drink. Just dilute it with water, add ice and a sprig of mint.
- Keep any rose flavoured icing sugar leftover from things like Turkish delight. It’s perfect for dusting this cake.
Homemade Vanilla Sugar
Vanilla sugar is an excellent ingredient to have to hand. I often use it in baking to give a light vanilla touch.
It’s very easy to make your own. I have a jar on the go permanently. Pop a vanilla pod into a large jar. Fill it up with golden caster sugar and leave it for a couple of weeks. Use the sugar as needed, but keep the pod in the jar.
As soon as I take some sugar out, I just top it up again with some more golden caster sugar. Give it a good shake and it will be ready for the next time you need some.
Alternatively, instead of using an expensive whole vanilla pod, make use of leftovers. When you next use the seeds from a vanilla pod, pop that into a jar and fill with golden caster sugar. Add as many spent pods as you like. The more you have, the stronger the vanilla flavour will be.
You can add vanilla seeds to the labneh if you like and this is an excellent thing to do if you don’t use vanilla sugar in the cake. I use vanilla sugar both in the cake and for the syrup, so don’t feel it’s really needed in the labneh as well.
Other Blueberry Recipes You Might Like
- Blueberry kefir smoothie
- Caramelised blueberry blondies
- Matcha green tea cheesecake pots
- Vegan blueberry muffins
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this blueberry white chocolate cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Blueberry White Chocolate Cake. PIN IT.
Blueberry White Chocolate Cake – The Recipe
Blueberry White Chocolate Cake With Labneh, Mint and Rose
Ingredients
Labneh
- 500 g natural yoghurt (I use Yeo Valley)
- 1 vanilla pod optional
Mint Syrup
- 100 g golden caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
- 100 ml water
- 2 sprigs mint (I used spearmint)
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 250 g blueberries
White Chocolate Cake
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 100 g white chocolate (I use Green & Black’s which is nice and vanillary)
- 175 g golden caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
- 200 g flour (I use 100g wholemeal spelt 50g white spelt and 50g buckwheat)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch sea or rock salt (I use Himalayan pink rock salt)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 50 g whey
- 1 tsp icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
Labneh
- The night before making the cake, empty the yoghurt into a muslin cloth and hang it up over a jug to drain for the night. To do this, I use an elastic band to tie the cloth at the top and then I hang it from one of our kitchen cupboard door handles. Just make sure you leave a jug underneath to catch the whey.500 g natural yoghurt, 1 vanilla pod
- The next day, turn the yoghurt, now labneh, into a bowl and give it a good stir. Scrape the vanilla seeds in at this point, if using. Keep the whey that’s drained into the jug to use in the cake.
Mint Syrup
- Dissolve the sugar in a pan with the water over a low heat. Then bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes when it should be slightly syrupy.100 g golden caster sugar, 100 ml water
- Turn off the heat, add the mint and rose water and cover the pan. Leave to infuse for at least three hours. The longer the better.2 sprigs mint, 1 tbsp rose water
- Stir the blueberries into the syrup and leave to infuse for another hour.250 g blueberries
- Drain off about half of the syrup and reserve. Add the remainder, along with the blueberries, to the labneh. Stir well.
White Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Melt the butter in a pan over a gentle heat with the white chocolate and sugar. Remove from the heat and give it all a good stir.200 g unsalted butter, 100 g white chocolate, 175 g golden caster sugar
- Sift the flours into a large bowl along with the baking powder and salt.200 g flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 pinch sea or rock salt
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the butter mixture.
- Stir from the inside out until just incorporated, then beat in the eggs.2 large eggs
- Add whey and rose water then stir until everything is just incorporated.50 g whey, 1 tbsp rose water
- Divide the mixture between two 22 cm round silicone moulds or lined cake tins. Bake for twenty minutes until well risen and firm to the touch.
- Spoon some of the reserved syrup over both cakes whilst still hot.
- Leave to cool for ten minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sandwich them together with the labneh and blueberry mixture. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with a few blueberries and sprigs of mint.1 tsp icing sugar for dusting
Anaiah says
Another beautiful recipe, Choclette! I love the infused flavors of the blueberry, mint and rose water. Such a wonderful combination.
Choclette says
Thank you Anaiah. Mint and rose seem to work particularly well with berries.
Kayla DiMaggio says
This is gorgeous! I never thought to use rose before but you have me hooked! So beautiful and exquisite!
Choclette says
The flavour of rose can really enhance summer fruit. It’s one of my favourite combinations.
Maya Russell says
I’ve never heard of labna. Looks interesting and a nice cake!
Choclette says
Thanks Maya. Labneh is very similar to Greek Yogurt really – strained yogurt. It’s delicious.
mummy24 says
Another amazing cake!
Choclette says
Thank you 🙂
Choclette says
Thanks Ananda – White chocolate in cakes works really well.
FireintheBreeze – Thank you. Do let me know what you think if you do make it.
FireintheBreeze says
look amazing! my mother enjoys bluberries so i should try and make this for her
Ananda Rajashekar says
They looks divine…these day i want is white chocolate…Yum yum thanks for the recipe 🙂
Choclette says
CC – and luckily we’re getting summer.
Elisabeth – good to hear from you. No idea about muslin cloths – I guess a cheese supplier? I have a couple of ancient ones handed down from my mother. Thanks for your yogurt recipe and Natural Vitality link.
Thank you Mary – we are certainly enjoying some very warm weather at the moment.
Mary says
This is a really lovely cake. It sounds delicious and looks wonderful. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
realfoodlover says
I love labneh – thanks for the recipe.
I need to be reminded where you get muslin clothes now my babes are fully-grown!
Natural Vitality make a wonderful organic labneh – called labane
And here is my post for homemade yogurt which I make weekly when at home
http://realfoodlover.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/homemade-yogurt/
The Caked Crusader says
Lovely looking cake – it just screams summer!
Choclette says
Mangocheeks – thank you, romantic sounds good. Making labna is really easy and you can make it as thick as you like by hanging it for a shorter or longer time.
BG – thank you. Actually I’d love a slice now too.
Kath – I’ve been using the rose and mint syrup quite a lot since – it is a particularly good flavour and not something I would have thought of putting together myself. Hang the labna for a few hours longer and you get a very nice soft cheese.
Thank you Joanna – I seem to be permanently a week or three behind with my posts so I have been enjoying very nice weather indeed for the last couple of weeks or so. I guess using whey in bread makes it a bit like sourdough – did you use it instead of yeast?
SM – thank you. Imagining how a cake tastes is probably a lot better for you than actually eating it.
Somesaycocoa – thank you, you are right the whole thing was completely luscious. G&B white chocolate is my favourite (of those I’ve tried. Like you, I like the vanilla seeds, but I also don’t find it as sickly as other brands.
Thanks Janice
Katie – I was a bit disappointed when I couldn’t get my hands on any strawberries, but actually it worked really well with the blueberries.
Celia – Oh, is it too hot to grow decent strawberries in Melbourne – I guess it probably is? We are quite lucky in Cornwall and have quite a lot of very nice ones grown locally and some organically. I used to grow my own, but haven’t got around to it in our new plot.
Jac – thank you. Do try labna. It’s very easy to make and if hung for a bit longer makes a really nice soft cheese.
Emmalene – let me know if you do the blackberries and lavender combination – I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Chele – if it would survive Royal Mail, I most certainly would (and if we hadn’t already eaten it of course).
CityHippy – oh what did you do with your labna. shall have to pay you a visit to see if you’ve mentioned it on your blog. Very glad cake is a firm favourite – life without cake would be a bit sad.
Oxslip – oh well, you won’t have to escape any more matches with England in for a while! Elderflower, you could do something very similar to this using elderlower syrup instead with the fruit. But elderflowers go really well with gooseberries, so it would be fun to try something with those three ingredients. I used to have gooseberry bushes, but sadly no longer.
oxslip says
Escaping into a baking fantasy from England v. Germany. Looks delicious and summery and light, can you see a role for Elderflower with white choc somehow?
cityhippyfarmgirl says
Gorgeous looking cake. The combination of those flavours sounds absolutely lovely. Blueberries are always a firm favourite, as is… cake 🙂
I made labna for the first time this week as well, and was so impressed at how easy it was. Will definitely be playing around with it more.
Chele says
How good does that cake look! Couldn’t pop a slice in the post for me could you lol?
Might have to give this a try.
Emmalene says
Argh! I meant lavender of course ;-P
Emmalene says
mint and rose and vanilla…mmm. It looks fab and would be great either on its own or as you say as a filling. What do think to putting lavnender in the labna instead and partnering with blackberries?-I am inspired to try it…
Jacqueline says
I have never heard of labna before, so I am very intrigued. I love the look of your cake, but what is new there?
Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial says
It is so nice to wake in the morning to such a gorgeous photo and post! 🙂 I think blueberries sounds like the perfect combination – much more flavour than the strawberries we get here!
Katie says
Oh wow I love the sound of this. The rose and blueberries sound a yummy combination.
Janice says
Just too good mmmmm!
somesaycocoa says
My word. That sounds wonderful. They syrup, the cake, the filling, the fruit.
I love the G&B white chocolate with the little brown vanilla seeds visible.
Sushma Mallya says
lovely combo for cakes, havent tasted it but looking at it i can say its so yum
Joanna says
What a beauty! Hope the weather picks up today for you.
I was going to mention using the whey in a loaf of bread, makes a lovely tangy loaf 🙂
Kath says
That sounds and looks delicious. I especially like the rose and mint syrup and the idea of drinking it sounds very good indeed. I have never made labna, but will now give it a go, sounds like a very good alternative to a cream or buttercream filling. Lovely.
Brownieville Girl says
Oh my, looks fantastic!
I’d love a slice now :-}}
mangocheeks says
I have a number of veggie cookbookw with labneh. I’ve never made it myself, so must give it a go one of htese dasys.
As well as sounding absolutely beauitufl, and looking gorgeous, the blueberry, rose and white chocolate cake sounds romantic in its own right too.