Apple and Almond Cake | Gluten Free

There are all sorts of apple desserts I’ve baked over the years: apple pie, tart, cake, challah, crisp, crumble, galette, kuchen, tarte tatin, you name it. This is my first attempt in making a true gluten-free apple cake. For that I mean, no direct substitution with the generally available gluten-free flour for wheat flour. The journey begins with a plain and simple almond cake, the baseline for gluten-free cakes. Adding apples is invariably upsetting the apple cart; it gets complicated. In this apple and almond cake recipe, Nigella finds a formula.

She starts off with an apple puree by cooking down the apples with sugar and lemon juice for about 10 minutes. Then surprising amount of eight eggs, plus the usual suspects go into the batter: sugar and almond flour. Plus a tablespoonful of lemon juice. That’s all. There is no butter or olive oil — as a fat component — in the batter. Really?

What’s more surprising is the next step of mixing all the ingredients in the food processor. I guess without gluten nor fat to deal with, you can mix the batter in whichever manner and in whichever order you want to proceed. Who’d mind a single step of pressing the “on” button? This method is something else. In the back of my mind, I have doubts. A food processor cake? I haven’t made too many of the kind.

I use a 9-inch springform pan to bake, rather than a 10-inch one which I don’t have. It takes more than 45 minutes in s 350°F oven for the cake to fully bake. (Err on the side of overbaking than underbaking.) In addition, it takes a while for the cake to cool down in order to make a clean cut. And patience is rewarded.

In the end, my doubts are misplaced: the apple and almond cake is an easy one to make and it bakes well. Without a drop of butter or olive oil, the cake is moist and tender. It has a custardy feel to it; just don’t expect the open crumb look of wheat-based cakes. Without any doubt, the sliced almonds on top seal the deal with the extra crunch for texture.

If I have to find fault, it is the lack of apple flavor in the cake. Perhaps, a few slices of apple on top may provide the missing link. Or maybe some Calvado or cinnamon to spice it up just a tad. In short, this cake has a lot of fine qualities, undemanding and easy to like.

Print Recipe

Apple and Almond Cake | Nigella Lawson

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• FOR THE APPLE PUREE
• 3 tart eating apples (such as Braeburns)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• FOR THE CAKE
• 1 splash of vegetable oil to grease tin
• 8 large eggs
• 325 grams ground almonds
• 275 grams caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 50 grams flaked almond
• TO DECORATE
• 1 teaspoon icing sugar

Instructions

1

MAKE THE APPLE PUREE: Peel, core and chop the apples roughly. Put them in a saucepan with the lemon juice and sugar and bring the pan to a bubble over a medium heat. Cover the pan and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes or until you can mash the apple to a rough puree with a wooden spoon or fork. (You should have about 285g / 1 generous cup of puree.) Leave to cool.

2

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180ºC/160ºC Fan/350ºF; oil a 25cm / 10 inch springform tin with almond or a flavourless vegetable oil and line the bottom with baking parchment.

3

MIX THE BATTER: Put the cooled puree in the processor with the eggs, ground almonds, caster sugar and 1 tablespoon - or generous squeeze - of lemon juice and blitz to a puree. Pour and scrape, with a rubber spatula for ease, into the prepared tin, sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.

4

BAKE THE CAKE: bake for 45 minutes. It's worth checking after 35 minutes, as ovens do vary, and you might well find its cooked earlier - or indeed you may need to give a few minutes longer.

5

Put on a wire rack to cool slightly, then spring open. This cake is best served slightly warm, though still good cold. As you bring it to the table, push a teaspoon of icing sugar through a fine sieve to give a light dusting.

Notes

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/apple-and-almond-cake