Courtesy of Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh
Makes 1 x deep 8×8 dish. You can halve the recipe and cook for less time.
This recipe is naturally gluten-free (flourless and paleo), dairy-free
This is a recipe I have made for many years as my raspberry almond tart, and is one of my son’s favorites, so it is almost the first recipe I adapted to be gluten-free. I can still eat butter, but my son and cousin and many of you are dairy-free. I have been using more and more coconut oil as a butter substitute and prefer it. Plus, even if you can eat butter, coconut oil is cholesterol free. The only annoying thing about coconut oil is it comes in a jar and is rock hard unless you have a very warm house. I got fed up trying to dig out hard coconut oil. I slowly melted the coconut oil and transferred it into a large square tub with lid. Once it hardened, I flipped it out and roughly cut it up into smaller pieces. Then, I weigh it when I use it, but store it in the square tub. I also just melt the coconut oil for this recipe. It is very difficult to get coconut oil evenly soft for beating with sugar and I find it works melting it. This cake is very dense and moist like a pound cake.
I wasn’t successful baking this in a Bundt pan; it just wouldn’t turn out cleanly. It still tasted wonderful, but not attractive enough for company.
No xanthan gum needed.
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. (112 g) coconut oil melted
- 1 cup (8 oz., 224 g) ordinary sugar
- 4 large eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cup (8 oz., 224 g) of almond meal/flour slightly rounded
- 1 tsp. (5 ml) gluten-free baking powder – I use Rumford’s labeled gluten-free, non-GMO and aluminum-free
- 2 tsp. (10 ml) gluten-free almond extract (I use Penzey’s, which they say is gluten-free)
- Zest of one large orange (optional)
- ½ cup (2 oz., 56 g) dried mango, cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup (1 oz., 28 g) crystallized ginger cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped (optional – expensive but wonderful)
- Topping: ¼ – ½ cup sliced almonds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place all ingredients (except topping nuts) in a 4 cup (1 liter) mixing bowl and beat until well blended and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Spread mix in greased and gluten-free floured 8×8 pan. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for about 45-55 minutes until well-risen, golden brown and set but still soft in the middle. The texture should be similar to rolls of almond paste when cut, but cooked throughout.
- Remove from oven, serve warm or cold, sprinkled with powdered sugar.