Almond Cake
Posted: September 23, 2008 Filed under: desserts, Erythritol, favorites, gluten free, Stage 1, Stevia, vegetarian, Whole grains 4 Comments »
Growing up, when we wanted cake, we always made one-from a box mix. We only had cake for special occasions: birthdays, graduations and holiday dinners. It was always vanilla, made in a bundt pan. It was always a big deal when it was time to make a cake and all three of us (me, my little brother and little sister) all had a roll in the production. Someone floured and buttered the pan, someone else did the mixing, and someone else actually poured the batter in the pan. My mom put the pan in the oven and that was our queue to go ahead with our other task, batter licking! That was before salmonella scares!
I don’t know for sure, but if I had ever suggested we make a cake from scratch or do a different flavor, I think I would have been scoffed at, as if to say, “What would you want to do that for?”
Well, there are quite a few good reasons to make a cake from scratch, but the main reason for me is so that I can actually have cake (It’s been about a year and a half since I’ve had cake)! The only way I can eat cake is to make my own!
This recipe is adapted from the one Mark Bittman features in his book: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. In my usual fashion, I halved the recipe and decided to use little bundt pans. Double this and use your regular 8-9 inch springform pan.
4 tablespoons ghee
1/4 cup erythritol
1/4 teaspoon pure stevia
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten free baking mix (see notes)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
about 1/8 cup almond milk
Springform, bundt or mini cake pans
Hand mixer or stand mixer
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour your preferred pan(s).
With your hand mixer, cream erythritol, stevia and ghee together until it’s pale yellow. Blend your mixture together first with the mixer off, so you don’t fling bits of ghee all over your kitchen. Add the egg and beat until thick and fluffy. Add extract and beat until well mixed. Add flours, salt and baking powder and mix until smooth. Slowly add almond milk and mix on low until well blended.
Turn batter into prepared pan(s) and bake (about 20 mins for mini pans, 30 mins 8-9 inch pan) until a knife, fork, or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes:
*Gluten free baking mix is: 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch. Mix and store in fridge.
From Rebecca Reilly’s book Gluten Free Baking.
*I used Trader Joe’s “Just Almond Meal” for the almond flour, which has the skins still on during grinding. If you want an all white almond meal, you’ll have to use Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour, but the difference in price is drastic!
* For the “powdered sugar”, I mixed 1/4 cup tapioca starch and 1/4 teaspoon of stevia. A stevia/chicolin blend would probably work here too.
*I used 4 and 1/2 inch by 2 inch mini bundt pans, and halving the recipe yielded three mini cakes.
I just made these mini cakes and they turned out great! I had to make a few substitutions for things I didn’t have ( veg. glycerin for stevia, etc.) but the recipe was very forgiving. I also made a glaze for mine with almond butter, almond milk, and erythritol. Love your blog.
Wow! Thanks m. So glad the recipe worked for you! Glad to hear that the substitutions worked too.
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