Saturday, May 12, 2012

Flourless Almond and Coconut Cake (Gluten Free) - Simple, Yummy and Great for all occasion!



To be honest, am not usually a great big fan of non chocolate and cheesy cake, but while going through all my magazine stacks during a house cleaning session a couple of years ago, I bump into this recipe!  It looked quite attractive, furthermore it had lots of almonds in it which is my all time favourite nut!  I decided to give it a try and I must say I didnt regret trying it.  It is sooooo simple to make, and most importantly, it taste really good:)  I also made it for one of the morning tea at work and had many request for the recipe after that.  All that was about 2 years ago, which also means I havent made this for a while and had actually forgottten about it admist all the happenings surrounding my life of late!  With a friend's birthday coming up and wanting to make a cake for her but didnt have too much time to spare as it was weekday night, this cake once again pop on my mind.  Also thought at the same time, was a good excuse to do a blog write up on it and share this lovely recipe of Belinda Jeffery's with everyone out there:)  Enjoy!

Recipe Source (Australian Womens Weekly April 2007).  Original Recipe from Belinda Jeffery's book, Mix and Bake.
Serves 8.  Preparation 20 mins.  Cooking 40 mins.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (180g) ground almonds
3/4 cup (60g) desiccated coconut
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups (250g) caster sugar (note:  I thought this amount is too sweet for me, hence only used a a little less than 1 cup or 1 cup and I think that amount is just nice!)
4 free range eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almomd essence
200g cultured unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp flaked almonds
rich cream, for serving, optional

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to moderate (180C/160C Fan Forced).  Butter a 23cm-24cm shallow springform tin, line the base and sides with buttered baking paper.  Dust the tin lightly with flour, or rice flour if you're avoiding wheat, and set it aside.
2) Put the ground almonds, coconut, salt and sugar into a medium bowl, whisk for 40 seconds.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and almond essence until they're mixed thoroughly, then mix in the cooled butter until it disappears.  Tip the butter mixture into the almond mixture and stir them together.  Scrape this into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly, then scatter the flaked almonds over the top.
3) Bake the cake for about 40 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back slowly when you press it gently.  When the cake is ready, transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool in the tin.  Once its cool, remove from tin.  Serve with cream, if desired.
(Suitable to freeze.  Butter suitable to microwave.)