I have a lovely friend, J, who has just had her second baby (5 weeks ago) and I invited her and her little family to lunch on Sunday to have, as she put it, an adult afternoon. We (being the bad parents we are) put our two little ones in-front of the TV while we all had a leisurely lunch with proper courses and very little toddler interference.
I’ve just found (and made) a new flourless cake to add to my repertoire for J who doesn’t eat wheat or dairy. I have two fabulous cakes that I tend to make for special occasion desserts that fit the bill but it’s always exciting to find a new one. She’s not vegan, or even a vegetarian so there are lots of options for savoury food even thought it requires an extra level of thoughtfulness. This means, fortunately, that eggs in a cake aren’t a problem.
Like this new cake, my other go-to flourless cakes use no or minimal butter which I feel comfortable exchanging for a non-dairy alternative. If a cake calls for a lot of butter I leave that alone for this purpose as I think the flavour (and to some extent the behaviour) of butter is different to those spreads. I prefer to make food that doesn’t call for substitutions, instead finding dishes that have their own integrity by not including those ingredients in the first place. This isn’t always easy or possible given time constraints and ingredient availability but I do find that Asian cuisines are great for dairy free/wheat free foods in general. While there are lots of great fruity, coconut milk and/or rice based desserts out there, cakes are a bit trickier.
Jill Dupleix’s oranges and lemons cake in New Food (adapted from a recipe by Claudia Rodin) in which you include whole oranges and lemons; and Eve’s chocolate cake in Damien Pignolet’s French (which is the wickedest cake I ever did eat – the frosting is just uncooked cake mix) are my faves in the wheat free/dairy free line. Often both of these cakes get made to take to the same event and it always surprises me that the oranges and lemons cake is just as popular as the chocolate (personally I love citrus based desserts but I also acknowledge a high level of chocolate dessert worship out there).
I found this Flourless apple, almond, raisin and ginger cake online at Gourmet Traveller and its one I hadn’t come across before. Its a pretty stunning looking cake and not much trouble to make but it is quite expensive with a lot of almond meal, whole almonds and maple syrup – definitely dinner party fare. You could easily make it without the sliced apple/chopped nut topping (to save time and fussing although even this bit is easy) and I think it would taste just as good – it just wouldn’t look as pretty.
It’s very moist from the apples with a noticeable ginger flavour and the maple syrup gives the edges a caramelised/toffee like crispness, and for this reason it’s probably best made on the day it will be served although I’m sure such a moist cake would keep well.
I adjusted the sugar content considerably as I just couldn’t believe the amount of sugar listed was not going to be cloyingly sweet. It calls for 220g raw caster sugar which is a fair bit anyway but it also has 145ml maple syrup plus the apples are cooked in butter (or non-dairy spread) and sugar and then you are supposed to sprinkle sugar on top! I was reluctant to cut the maple syrup as I thought it might have affected the moistness too much but I cut the sugar to 80g. I think you could even cut it further depending on your sweet tooth.
It was a really lovely, moist and applely (is that a word?) cake with a lovely texture from the whole almonds (in their skin) that had been whizzed up with the almond meal and the under-note of ginger. This will be going on my list of cool cakes to make for wheat free/dairy free friends (and others).
That really is a most stunning looking plate. With all of the fruit and nuts it reminds me of a Roman feast piled high with lots of colours! 😀
That is a great looking cake. I am going to have to try making it. I will also reduce the sugar like you did…I usually do anyway with just about every recipe and find that I hardly notice the difference (and we have all gotten used to eating things at a reasonable level of sweetness, not the ridiculous levels of most commercial stuff). Sorry, getting off my soap box now…
I have a copy of Damian’s book “French” and haven’t tried that chocolate cake recipe as yet. Better rectify that situation pronto I guess! 🙂
These are some simply lovely photo’s, Sarah!
The cake looks fantastic – a blob of cream and some of the riesling I see lurking in the background would make it perfect!
Yay! This cake was AWESOME and I am supremely lucky to have been the bad parent who tasted it. Thanks so much Sarah. Needless to say the leftovers you sent home with us were polished off rather quickly and with much licking of lips! You are a true cooking star and we had such a lovely day with you all. Thank you!. xxx
Lorraine – thanks Lorraine – I was really pleased with the generous and pretty finish on this cake.
spiceandmore – if you have a low sweet threshold I’d probably say reduce the sugar even a bit more than I did. You really must make Eve’s Chocolate Cake – it really is the best chocolate cake. Just make sure you go for under rather than over cooking – it should be really fudgey in the middle.
Amanda – thanks for the compliment on the photos – these were all taken by my partner (he does about 2/3 of all the photos on my blog). This was served with vanilla yoghurt which was lovely.
Jess – So glad you enjoyed the day and the leftovers!
Ooh, this cake is devine. I will have to make it for my friend Craig (who is wheat and dairy intolerant) – it is a little different, and most GF, DF cakes seem to be chocolate.
Cakelaw – I agree I’ve mainly seen chocolate flourless cakes (always yummy but a change is good)
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Hi there,
Just stumbled upon your blog and am very delighted I did.
I would like to clarify that you reduced the amount of raw caster sugar from 230g to 80g in the cake? Did you leave all other sugars the same quantities?
I also do not have maple sugar, so would I just double the demerara sugar?
Thank you,
Angela