Wholesome Almond Raspberry Cake for birthdays or any occasion
Originally posted 2nd Dec 2021
Hey everyone, I thought I would share this favourite cake of mine, it is so healthy and nourishing, and super easy to make as well.
Made from wholesome ingredients there isn't much inside that cake that isn't good for you. What is even better, you can whip it up in no time and all you need is a beater blender. Also it is free from dairy, oil, eggs and can probably be made gluten free too if needed.
I have made it for my recent big birthday and also in the days following, because why not :)
Because I love baking and cook everything from scratch, my pantry is well stocked with the basics, i didn't even need to go shopping specifically, but you may need to. You need both ground and flaked almonds (any supermarket sells them), date sugar (or coconut, or maybe even muscavado) , plant milk (i prefer soy), apple cider vinegar, fresh and frozen raspberries (or you can cheat with a quality raspberry conserve), wholemeal flour and almond extract.
Notes on the ingredients
I prefer using date sugar in my baking because it is the most natural type of sweetener there is, it is literally dried and ground up dates. There is no heavy processing and it comes with minerals like potassium, fibres and a delicious caramel flavour to it. You can check your local health food shop or order from buywholefoodsonline. You can use coconut palm sugar, or if you are not that concerned about what type of sugar you use then by all means use muscavado, but the flavour would probably be different to what i am talking about here.
Plant milk - i like using Alpro Soy Milk in my baking, because it is nutritionally closest to semi skimmed cows milk and it makes a wonderful buttermilk for cakes and pancakes by adding apple cider vinegar to it. How about that for a time saving trick?
Wholemeal flour - I don't use any refined ingredients in my baking because they are devout of nutrients and fibres so it is always wholemeal. I like wholemeal spelt, it is much easier on the digestion than wheat and the crop itself has been less messed with. I also like using oat flour (which you can buy from health food stores or grind some oats in your blender) and i do prefer the cake with a mix of oat and spelt flour so i am sharing the recipe for this version. Because oat doesn't have any gluten you will need a little tapioca flour. You could probably use just gluten free flour or buckwheat/oat, although that would make the cake slightly darker and it would bake faster so keep an eye on it.
Raspberry Jam - you can either make it yourself with frozen raspberries ( sweetened to taste with date sugar or erythritol and 1 tbsp of arrowroot or cornflour, then gently cooked until thickened or you can omit the cornflour/arrowroot and add 1 tbsp of chia seeds after cooking and leave that for 30 mins to thicken); or you can use a ready made high fruit content quality conserve.
The recipe370g soy milk icing sugar to decorate |
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The methodPreheat oven to fan 160C. Combine soy milk and vinegar, stir, add the vanilla and almond extract and leave to one side. In a different bowl combine flours, date sugar, ground cardamom, baking powder and baking soda and stir well. Add the buttermilk made earlier and whisk with your blender until fully incorporated. Line a small round tin with paper and very lightly grease the sides. Because there is no oil in the cake it can stick to the paper. Pour the cake batter in the lined tin and flatten. Dot teaspoonfuls of the rasbperry jam on top of the batter and using a stick or even a knife make swirls (optional), decorate with a few fresh raspberries and then flaked almonds. Bake for 30 mins at 160C and another 10 mins at 180C. As oven temperatures vary please test for doneness with a toothpick, it should come out clear of batter. Leave the cake to cool completely. |
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Before serving dust with 1/2 tsp or more of icing sugar. If you have left over raspberry jam, you can drizzle a little more on top or on the side. And enjoy!
If you are on Instagram and wish to follow me for more healthy eating ideas here is a link @rossicart
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