I promised my niece I would make a sugarless almond cake for her when her birthday comes around. She does not like the sugary frosting on the cakes anymore and the idea of a cake made with almond flour seriously piqued her interest. She was looking forward to it, but I wonder now if that was a hasty promise made on my part lol – one can never tell what would happen in the future. I guess I habitually get ahead of myself most times.
Perhaps it is good to get ahead and not worry about what you would do when you remove all grains from your diet. That ultimately means: no cakes, no pastries, no pizzas, no breads, no biscuits. And then you're asking yourself what are you going to eat now. This is the time to innovate and invent new alternatives. I know many people think that a low carbohydrate, no grain, diet is difficult and costly. And the question arises, what do you do when you get the feeling for a slice of cake or bread?
Let me assure you that common foods that were originally made with flour could be made using nut flours and seeds. And invent we did as the time went along. In fact, this innovation of using nut flours was our opportunity to reduce or totally eliminate the amount of grains we ate daily. Since our movement is restricted during this pandemic, many of you would have noticed that you are gaining weight due to inactivity. In that case one way to combat this is to reduce the amount of carbohydrates we are eating.
Substituting almond flour or even a portion of it in some of your favourite recipes is a good idea when you are watching your weight. So avoid calling for fast food deliveries and instead prepare your own meals. They could be simple or, if need be, elaborate, and they would most likely be more nutritionally dense than the burger and fries most like to indulge in.
The Sugarless Almond Cake Recipe
This sugarless almond cake does not contain any added sugar. However, its sweetness comes from raisins, prunes, and dates. It also does not take long to prepare, once you chop the raisins, prunes and dates beforehand. Surprisingly, with the cake being made with only almond flour, it comes out with a moistness, lightness and taste that's similar to our normal sugarless cake recipe. Just as before, I plan to add some alcohol to the mix and this could be my go to low-carb fruitcake for the coming Christmas lol. That's a plan!
Anyhow I digress… In making this sugarless almond cake I suggest you use blanched almond flour. Incidentally, almond meal can also be used. Blanched almond flour though is finer, and it is made from almonds with the skin removed.
Almond meal is made from the unpeeled almond, so it has more fiber and it is not as fine as the blanched almond flour. So, if you want your sugarless almond cake to be a bit lighter, use the blanched almond flour. The texture of the cake with the blanched almond flour is perfect, and you will never miss flour, if you are on a low carbohydrate or no grain diet….
In the end, everyone enjoyed this cake, including my niece who just couldn't have enough. We had slices of this with our favourite full cream yogurt. The taste was just heavenly. No need for sugary frosting at all. I must add that it is a wonderful addition to our GAPS diet which we have been on for the past three months now. I'm definitely not missing flour just yet. lol!
Without further ado here's Sugarless Almond Cake recipe. Enjoy!
Sugarless Almond Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1 cup raisins, dates, prunes chopped
¼ cup butter
½ cup water or apple juice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
chopped almonds or peanuts or walnuts (optional)
Method:
First chop the raisins, dates, and prunes. Combined, they should be one cup altogether. Set aside.
Beat the eggs with the vanilla and set aside. You can also beat the eggs with a cake mixer.
In a deep stainless steel pan, add the butter and water or apple juice. Add the chopped raisins, dates and prunes. Stir for three minutes. The raisins, dates, and prunes should be very soft. Remove and allow to cool.
Mix the almond flour and the baking soda.
Add the mixed fruits to the beaten eggs. Mix well.
Then add almond flour to the liquid mixture. Mix well.
You will notice that the mixture is very moist and thick. You may stir in the optional chopped almond nuts etc. at this time if desired.
Pour into a well greased baking dish. I generally prefer to line the baking dish with parchment paper. Bake at 350° F for 25 to 30 minutes.
This is the final baked product. A wonderful looking low-carb fruit cake. It is light and simply delicious!
Well that's it for another innovative post. As usual more to come…Leave your comments below and tell me what you think.
Ah Gone!
By the way, The Simply Trini Cooking Cookbook is now available at Amazon in Kindle and soft cover paperback copy. The cookbook contains over 600 recipes. Order your copy today!
Always looking for Gluten-Free and Celiac friendly recipes. Thanks will try this one.