Almond-flour apple cake
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Cake
- 240 g fine blanched almond flour, not coarse almond meal rounded
- 30 g cornstarch rounded
- 10 g gluten-free baking powder rounded
- 6 g ground cinnamon rounded
- 1 g ground nutmeg rounded
- 2 g fine salt rounded
- 4 large eggs, separated rounded
- 100 g light brown sugar rounded
- 90 g plain Greek yogurt rounded
- 60 ml neutral oil rounded
- 15 ml fresh lemon juice rounded
- 5 ml vanilla extract rounded
Apples
- 280 g apples, peeled, cored, diced small, about 2 medium rounded
- 150 g apple, unpeeled, cored, sliced paper-thin, about 1 medium rounded
- 20 g sliced almonds rounded
- 10 g demerara sugar, for the top rounded
- 3 g ground cinnamon, for the top rounded
Method
Method
- Heat the oven to 175°C. Grease a 20 cm round cake tin, line the base with parchment, and lightly grease the paper.
- Whisk the almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Toss the diced apple with 1 tablespoon of this dry mixture and set aside.
- Separate the eggs between two clean bowls. Whisk the yolks with the brown sugar until pale and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Whisk in the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the remaining dry mixture; the batter will be thick.
- Beat the egg whites to firm, glossy peaks. Stir one-quarter of the whites into the thick batter to loosen it, then gently fold in the rest in two additions.
- Fold in the coated diced apple. Spread the batter in the tin. Fan the thin apple slices over the top in a ring, overlapping them slightly, and scatter with the sliced almonds. Mix the demerara sugar and cinnamon for the top and dust it over the apple slices.
- Bake for 40 to 48 minutes, until golden, springy in the centre, and a skewer through the cake between apple slices comes out without wet batter. Cover loosely with foil near the end if the top or almonds darken too quickly.
- Cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge, turn the cake onto a rack, remove the parchment, and cool completely, right side up, before slicing.
Notes
- Gluten-free when the almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and vanilla are all verified gluten-free.
- For someone with celiac disease, use clean bowls, beaters, utensils, tin, work surfaces, and ingredients that have not been exposed to wheat flour. Avoid shared bulk bins.
- Use a firm, tart baking apple that holds its shape, such as Elstar, Boskoop, or Granny Smith. A soft eating apple like Golden Delicious will collapse into the batter.
- Diced apple releases moisture as it bakes, so the raw batter looks thicker than a typical cake batter. That is expected; do not add extra liquid to loosen it.
- Refrigerate covered for up to 4 days. Bring slices toward room temperature before serving, or freeze individual slices for up to 2 months. The apple fan on top softens on thawing but stays intact.