Lemon Almond Cake

I don’t know about you, but I have been eating a lot of chocolate lately. Eating my way through this pandemic with carbohydrates has not been so great after what feels like week 1235? With our fifth wedding anniversary coming up, I knew I had to think of something different from the traditional chocolate dessert.

Almond flour, is essentially almonds that are blanched to remove the skin and then pulsed until it becomes a fine powder. Baking with almond flour can be a wonderful thing. It is full of nutrients without the worry of all those carbohydrates. Almonds are a tree nut, so they are high in fat and protein, which means high in calories too. Since they are high in fat and fibre, along with magnesium, it is great for diabetics who want that sweet dessert, but need to control their blood sugar.

The one thing about almond flour is that you cannot substitute it exactly the same ratio in a recipe that calls for all purpose flour. Almond flour is gluten free, meaning it doesn’t have the gluten to help it rise and stretch like in AP flour. Generally, I end up using more eggs in a cake recipe involving almond flour. The trick, however, is to separate the egg yolks and beat the egg whites until you get soft peaks. This is your ticket to having a fluffy and risen cake. In fact, in many cake recipes, if you beat the egg whites, you will end up with a higher cake that is lighter and fluffier. My mother has one cake that uses 8 eggs, it’s over a foot high!

If you’re looking for something lighter in texture and want to cut the carbs, this dessert might be the one to try. It would be a great Mother’s Day treat, all the yumminess of a good dessert, with much less guilt. his version, I filled it with part whipping cream and part Italian pastry cream, but I’ll save that for another post.

Lemon Almond Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 eggs, seperated at room temperature
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil (any mild oil will be fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 lemon, zested.
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven a 350 degrees.
2. Separate eggs, and beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
3. Combine egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla and oil.
4. Mix in the lemon juice.
5. Add in the baking powder, salt and flour. Adding 1 cup of almond flour at a time, combine until everything is mixed thoroughly.
6. Fold in the egg whites gently until fully combined, I tend to fold in a small amount at a time to ensure thorough mixing.
7. Place in a baking pan no larger than 9″ and let it bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick runs dry once pierced.

Enjoy!

Antonietta xo