Easy Gluten Free Almond Cake
You’ll love this gluten free almond cake – it’s incredibly rich, moist and buttery, with an intense almond flavour. The lemon zest gives it a hint of freshness, and the flaked almonds on top add a wonderful toasty crunch. It’s also super easy to make!
Servings 10
Ingredients
- 2 UK medium/US large eggs, room temperature
- 1 UK medium/US large egg white, room temperature
- 75 g (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) caster/superfine sugar (or granulated sugar if you can't find caster sugar)
- 75 g (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) light brown soft sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 60 g (¼ cup) whole milk, room temperature
- 30 g (2 tbsp) full-fat plain natural or Greek-style yoghurt, room temperature
- 135 g (1 ⅓ cup) almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
- 90 g (¾ cup) plain gluten free flour blend (I used Doves Farm Freee plain gluten free flour, which doesn't contain xanthan gum. You can also mix your own from 50% while rice flour, 30% potato starch and 20% maize flour by weight.)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp xanthan gum (Omit if your gluten free flour blend already contains xanthan gum.)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 113 g (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
- 90 g (1 cup) flaked almonds
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line an 8 inch (20 cm) springform pan with baking/greaseproof paper.
- In a large bowl (if using a hand mixer fitted with the double beaters) or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs, egg white, caster/superfine sugar, light brown soft sugar and lemon zest.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together on high speed for about 10 minutes until pale, fluffy and approximately tripled in volume. (Depending on the mixer you're using, it might take as long as 12-14 minutes, especially if using a hand mixer.)Tip: At the end, you should reach the “ribbon stage”, where the whipped eggs form a ribbon on top of the mixture when you lift the whisk.
- Add the milk and yoghurt, and whisk briefly until combined.
- Sift in the dry ingredients (almond flour, gluten free flour blend, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt) and whisk well until combined and no flour clumps remain.
- With the stand or hand mixer running at medium-high speed, slowly pour in the melted unsalted butter. Once completely incorporated, whisk on high speed for a further 20-30 seconds, until you get a smooth cake batter.
- Transfer the cake batter into the lined springform pan and smooth out the top.
- Sprinkle evenly with the flaked almonds, so that in the end almost no cake batter is visible through the layer of flaked almonds.
- Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 45-50 minutes or until well risen, deep golden brown on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. If the top of the cake (the flaked almonds) start browning too quickly, cover with alminium foil (shiny side up) and continue baking until done.Tip: If you’re feeling extra indulgent, you could under-bake the cake by a few minutes, to get a slightly fudgy centre. This way, you’ll have a cake-like exterior and a fudgy, extra-decadent frangipane-like centre. In that case, you're looking for a toothpick with a little bit of half-baked batter attached.
- Allow the baked cake to cool in the springform pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the springform pan onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely (or until warm).
- This almond cake is best served warm or at room temperature.
Storage:
- The gluten free almond cake keeps well in a closed container in a cool dry place for 3-4 days.