Yesterday was National Palindrome Day! You know, the numbers and words that are the same forwards as they are backwards – 02022020. I actually started writing this post yesterday but got distracted – happens a lot these days. In any event, it made for a nice introduction to a lovely cake recipe from the talented Chef’s at Bob’s Red Mill. I was looking for a gluten free recipe – I’m getting asked more and more for this, and found one I liked the sound of at this site. The combination of almonds and coconut (who’d a thunk it?), is absolutely delicious.
As I read through the recipe, I was amazed at how few ingredients were in this cake. I was skeptical about the coconut and almond combination – but I do coconut and I do love almonds, so did the math and decided to take the plunge. The coconut flour itself is extremely fragrant and even though we are not using a lot of it, the flavor comes through and blends really well with the almond flour. I also used a hand mixer instead of my Kitchen Aid. I haven’t done that in a while but it worked (no surprise of course)! I’ve tried many recipes in the past – what’s that you say? You have not seen them on my site? Well now you know why! They didn’t meet or come close to my flavor expectations.
This is a recipe with a few ingredients and few steps. This is for my gluten free friends – I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! My apologies to those with nut allergies out there, but there are lots of recipes on my site that avoid nuts and have gluten. All about balance! As always – enjoy!
Ingredients
¾ cup butter, room temperature (I used unsalted)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
½ cup milk (I used 2%)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract (I had almond emulsion in my cupboard and used it)
1½ cups almond flour
½ cup coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp sea salt
Preheat oven to 350f
Grease and line with parchment an 8” or 9” springform pan – I used a 9” – set aside
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 minutes – the original said 7 – 10 minutes but I also know that once I add the eggs in, it beats much better, so I cheated
Add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fully blended
Add milk and extracts and mix until combined
In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour baking powder and salt
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until creamy – the mixture may look curdled but keep beating it and it turns out fine
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top
Bake until set and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes – check at 35, ovens vary in temperature
Let cool completely
Cut and serve with fruit – it actually doesn’t even need the fruit but I just bought a bunch of figs and well, you know!