It just so happens that Vince's mom has her birthday on Christmas Eve and she's actually allergic to wheat/gluten so we wanted to try to bake her a cake without any of those things.
Just so you know where we're coming from here, I've never baked with anything except wheat & rice flour, and Vince had never really baked anything at all.... so really this cake could have been anything. But it actually turned out pretty well, hence, blog post.
Here are pretty much all the ingredients I used. I decided on almond flour because I quite liked the idea of a nutty flavor in the cake that I thought would be nice with lemon. I used garbanzo bean flour along with the almond flour to even out the fattiness and balance the texture a bit. That's all just gut feeling, I have no idea if it actually does, I didn't do any research but the GB flour has a really fine powdery texture more like flour, while the almond flour is a bit more gritty. Also. it turns out retail almond flour is ridiculously overpriced so unless you decide to buy in bulk online, using something else in conjunction will probably make the recipe a little cheaper.
Dry List
1 1/2 c almond flour
1/2 c garbanzo bean flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder (honestly don't remember how much I put in, I didn't actually measure it, probably anywhere from 1-3 tsp is fine)
Wet List
1/2 c milk
4 eggs (separated)
1-2 tsp vanilla
1 lemon (zest and 1-3 tsp juice)
heavy cream & berries to top (I actually was originally thinking about using strawberries and pistachio but I think I like the berries better for now)
I actually completely forgot to take pictures of the process, but it's pretty intuitive except for maybe the egg white part.
Procedure
1) Egg yolks + 1/4 c Sugar + lemon zest + juice + vanilla
2) Spread out your almond flour on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350F for 5-10 mins until dry and lightly toasted. (optional, but recommended it really made a difference when I tried it without toasting)
3) Add flours (mixture will be very thick almost doughy, set aside to let the flour soak)
4) Beat egg whites on high if you have a mixer, whisk your arm off if you don't. When the eggs turn white and creamy start to add the other 1/4 c of sugar in thirds. Beat to soft peaks which is sort of the consistency of runny whipped cream.
5) Add milk to Egg YOLK mixture to thin it out a bit.
6) Slowly fold the Egg WHITE mixture into the egg YOLK in thirds. You want it to be well combined but not completely mixed, so a tiny bit of marbling. This is to ensure you keep a lot of the air inside to help the cake rise.
7) I used an 8-9 in. round pan which I lined with parchment paper. If you line it well, you won't need any oil and you definitely won't need a spring-form pan.. You'll notice there isn't any oil in this recipe. Maybe I'll do a step by step on lining a cake pan sometime.
8) I baked it at 350F for 25 min but I found that 325 for 30-35 gave it a lighter golden brown similar to cornbread rather than a dark gold.
9) Let it cool before decorating.
We actually made two cakes, this one was for my family; I love whipped cream but, the rest of my family isn't as keen so I used the cream pretty sparingly for us. We wanted to save most of the berries and cream for the real birthday cake anyways.
The texture of the cake is surprisingly moist and reminds me a bit of a crumbly corn bread without the mealy bits. It really does have a nutty, lemony flavor when you toast the flour. If you prefer not to taste the almonds you can skip the toasting. The garbanzo beans have a very, very faint scent, but not enough to really be noticed if you're not looking for it. There's really something to be said for berries and cream, but if whipped cream isn't your thing, maybe melt some honey with the berries or some other fruit, and maybe some more lemon zest.
This cake was well loved. It was gone in less than two days... Bon apetit.
- 4:11:00 AM
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