Glazed Lemon, Yogurt and Olive Oil Pound Cake

I made this cake last week on a whim. I’m almost positive I saw it on Bob’s Red Mill’s Instagram account, and know for a fact that’s where I got the recipe from, but now going back to find it on their website it appears to be gone! Thankfully I found it somewhere else online. And I plan to get my hands on the cookbook itself ASAP! If just came out a few weeks ago and sounds lovely!

The cake itself was lovely! It’s gluten free, and easily dairy free. I used homemade Greek yogurt, but the recipe also states you can use a home made coconut milk yogurt. It really was the easiest thing to make. It took 5 minutes to whisk everything together, then into the pan and into the oven. You can have the whole thing made before the oven is preheated!

I actually was looking for something a little less sweet so I reduced the sugar by 1/2 (dangerous I know…) and it turned out just fine! It didn’t seem to be lacking sugar at all, and the texture was lovely, didn’t seem any worse for the wear. I would definitely make it with less sugar again, and would have no problem serving it this way.

It baked up beautifully. Tender, soft, and not crumbly at all. It held together well without the gluten from traditional flour. I wouldn’t have even guessed it didn’t have wheat flour in it. A lovely cake all around.

Glazed Lemon, Yogurt and Olive Oil Pound Cake
From Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple by Aran Goyoaga
Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar [I used 1/2 cup, 100 g of sugar for a lower sugar option and felt that it turned out great! I would certainly do it with reduced sugar again!]

• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 2 to 3 medium lemons)

• 1 cup (140g) superfine brown rice flour

• 1 cup (100g) almond flour

• 3 large eggs

• ½ cup (115g) whole-milk yogurt, or any dairy-free yogurt alternative you desire

• ½ cup (110g) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Glaze

• 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar

• 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios, for topping

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the inside of an 8½-by-4½-inch loaf pan with a bit of olive oil.

MAKE THE CAKE: In a large bowl, rub together the sugar and lemon zest until fragrant. (This helps release the natural lemon oil.) Whisk in the remaining ingredients until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool completely if you want the glaze to stay thick on top of the cake. If the cake is warm, the glaze will melt and run off.

MAKE THE GLAZE: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and lump-free. As you begin to whisk, it might seem too thick, but as the sugar absorbs the juice, the glaze will thin out. The glaze should be pourable but not too runny.

Put a tray or baking sheet under the wire rack and pour the glaze all over the cake, letting it run over the edges. Wait a few minutes for the glaze to set. Sprinkle the top with the pistachios, then serve. The cake will keep at room temperature for 3 days. (If you refrigerate it, the glaze will soften.)

Lemon Almond Flour Cake

BIG NEWS! After over 2 months I finally got my kitchen back! It’s not done yet, there are still a lot of things to get done (paint, tile, lighting, hardware, finish some trim) but I have appliances, and a sink which means I have a FUNCTIONING kitchen again!! I can cook and bake again after weeks and weeks of long, boring nights and weekends. It’s been wonderful!

Lara and I have slowly been moving pantry items, small appliances, dishes, and pans upstairs from the (very dusty) basement. It’s so much more fun to move stuff back upstairs than it was to move it all downstairs back in January.

To celebrate this weekend we made a cake for ourselves. Just because! This recipe had come across Lara’s Instagram feed earlier in the week and we both thought it looked simple and lovely. It’s a grain free, dairy free cake. I have fun experimenting with new types of recipes, different ingredients than the typical. This recipe uses all almond flour as the base, gets richness from coconut oil, and is sweetened with maple syrup. A couple of eggs hold it all together, and it is mildly flavored with lemon juice.

It’s a simple recipe, very easy to throw together without any special equipment. And although the recipe tells you to mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, I have no doubt you can do it all in one bowl.

As I was writing this post I realized that I accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda. Not sure how big of a difference this might have made in the final product (I would like to try it again soon and use soda instead, but we’ll see if I get to that).

Despite that little snafu, this cake turned out excellently. The almond flour has quite an assertive flavor, so the lemon was not overpowering, I would add a little more if I really wanted lemon flavor, along with a little zest. The texture was “mooshy” but not underbaked, dense but not heavy. These are all good things in my book! I like a “mooshy” cake! I find different (ie more interesting) textures a lot of fun to eat. So many people tell me they have a “texture” thing, and can’t eat anything “weird” in texture. I’m the complete opposite! I like these different textures! I would make this cake again for sure. Recommended!

Lemon Almond Flour Cake
From Sweet Laurel
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups (260 grams) almond flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup (56 grams) coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing

• 1/2 cup (156 grams) maple syrup

• 1/4 cup (56 grams) freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare one 8 inch pan by greasing it with coconut oil, then lining it with a circular piece of parchment paper, cut to fit.

In a bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, lemon juice and zest. Slowly add the almond flour mixture and stir until batter is blended well.

Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

Using a sifter, sift powdered sugar over cooled cake.

Orange and Almond Cake

I ran across this lovely recipe a few weeks ago and was very intrigued. I knew right away that I needed to try it soon, and I'm so glad I did. Today I'm sharing an interesting but simple recipe from Claudia Roden, a well loved food writer and cookbook author, especially known for her writings on Middle Easter food. What initially peaked my interest was the fact that this recipe calls for whole oranges, that you boil for several hours, and then puree directly into the rest of the batter, skin, pith, flesh and all! And besides this strange (at least to me) method, the rest of the recipe is simple, with few ingredients. Sugar, eggs, an almonds. That's basically it. 

The finished cake is dense but incredibly moist, full of texture and flavor. The whole orange imparts just a slight bitterness to the cake that is balanced nicely with just the right amount of sugar. The almonds add richness, as do the eggs which also help with the structure a little. The orange flavor is, not surprisingly, very pronounced (with whole oranges and all!). A small slice of this cake for breakfast, or after dinner for dessert, is refreshing and satisfying. Delicious on its own, or my favorite way with a nice spoonful of plain yogurt on the side for a creamy and smooth contrasting element (I decided to try this out on my own and thought it was amazing!). 

I ended up halving the original recipe, and baking it into a small, 6 inch, cake. Perfect for me and a few friends. Feel free to double the quantities below and bake in a larger pan (I imagine 8 or 9 inches would be good). I highly recommend having some nice and thick plain Greek yogurt (make sure it's plain, the contrast with the sweet cake is ideal) on the side. I'm sure a little whipped cream would also be nice, but just a bit richer/heavier. 

Orange and Almond Cake
Adapted from A New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
Ingredients

• 1 large orange
• 3 eggs
• 125 grams ground almonds
• 125 grams sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Wash and boil the orange (unpeeled) in a little water for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until very soft. Let cool. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 6 inch cake pan. 

Cut open the cooled orange and remove the seeds. Place orange in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the sugar and process again until well combined. Then add the eggs and process once more. Finally, add the almonds and baking powder and process until everything just comes together. 

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 1 hour. If it is still very wet, leave it in the oven for a little longer. Cool in the pan before turning out.