There was a time, before I started this blog, where I’d collect recipes from the weekend’s newspaper. Not each one, just the ones that piqued my fancy.
I took a break from it when I got serious about food – too serious. Now, that I’m over that, I revisited this cake recipe (clipped in 2009) when I made it for a cousin’s birthday about a month ago, and just last weekend for my mother’s birthday.
The recipe is modified, of course, to make it more wholesome (you know me). Yet, the deliciousness remains intact – in fact, dare I say, it has upped the taste factor.
I find the cake is perfect for afternoon tea, shared with good friends over cups of herbal brews. And, since berries are in season – in Melbourne, at least – why not use fresh raspberries for the recipe? I did.
Oh, and, I’m happy to say, I’m back to the craft of clipping piquing recipes from the paper.
Recipe
Serves 12 | Prep + baking time 1 hour 35 minutes | Wheat-free (gluten-free + dairy-free options)
- 1¼ cups (155 g) almond meal
- ½ cup wholemeal spelt flour
- ½ cup quinoa flour (or just use spelt flour)
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut
- 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- 125 g butter, gently melted
- ¾ cup rapadura or coconut sugar (or any brown sugar you have)
- 3 large eggs
- zest of 1 small (½ large ) lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or powder
- 250 g fresh or frozen raspberries
- 2 tbsp flaked almonds
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
Line and grease a 20 cm (no bigger!) springform cake tin.
In a food processor, add the first 10 ingredients and process until just combined (or you can do this step by hand, in a mixing bowl with a whisk).
Evenly spread half of the cake mixture (it’ll be quite thick) in the cake tin. Scatter over the berries in a single layer, top with the remaining mixture (it’s quite fiddly since the better is thick; and, don’t worry, you should have just enough).
Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top, then cover the cake tin with foil before placing in the oven.
Bake for one hour and 10 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. (total baking time is around 1 hour and 20 minutes).
Cool in pan. Best served warm – but still delicious at room temperature – either as is; or with some delicious cream, vanilla ice cream or lemon curd.
Variations
- gluten-free – replace the ½ cup spelt flour with ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice (or buckwheat) flour and 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour; and add an extra egg.
- dairy free – replace the butter with ½ cup macadamia nut oil or melted coconut oil.
- different berry – try blackberries or blueberries.
Lesh Karan 
Looks delicious! Any cake with almond and berries is always a winner.
I’m wondering about the recipe being wheat free but containing spelt flour. I’m currently wheat free (not gluten free) due to very mild intolerance and was told to avoid spelt? I’ve done a bit of googling but I’m still confused about whether spelt is part of the wheat family.
Hi Pippa, great question. My understanding its that while spelt is a relative of wheat, it’s not the same as wheat. So, for this main reason, people tend to call it wheat-free. However, if you’ve been asked to avoid spelt, then listen to your health practitioner. You can always use oat or barley flour instead. Just note that they have much less gluten than spelt. They would, however, work for this recipe, or you could try the gluten-free version. Lesh
Hi Lesh
That looks amazing and am super keen to try it out! Could you use jaggery in the recipe if no coconut sugar or similar?
Thanks
Hi Sarah, yes, any sure will work. 🙂
Hi there, I’m forever reworking recipes (esp cakes!) to make them more wholesome (more fibre, less sugar, less fat, etc). It just tastes better! Thanks for sharing this. Anything raspberry has got to be delicious!
This sounds perfect! How long will it keep? (Even though I know it wouldn’t last long!)
This looks like a really good cake. Something in the middle and just perfect; it’s not trying too hard to be free of *everything* and it’s not indulgently over the top. Exactly the kind of cake I would make occasionally. Thanks for sharing your story about coming back to the middle and being happy with that. It’s inspiring.