Monday 9 July 2012

TTT Macaroon cake with raspberries

A great gluten free cake recipe is a wonderful thing in this day and age.  The flourless chocolate and the flourless orange are classics.  The lovely Hannah at Wayfaring Chocolate recently posted an Almond and Coconut Cake with Raspberries to add to this list.  It was only a matter of time before I tried it.  I made it for a birthday dinner on the weekend and found it as delicious as it was easy.

My kitchen cupboards yielded some items of interest for the cake.  I use some neglected pistachios from the back of the pantry, as well as almonds.  My tin was slightly smaller than the recipe called for so I put some of the batter into a small springform tin I stumbled across.  Best of all was the help from my wee kitchen assistant, Sylvia (and no, she doesn't live in a cupboard). 

I left my cake in the oven until I was sure it felt cooked in the middle, despite it getting rather brown on the outside.  As you can see from the below photo, its underbelly was still rather moist in the middle.  I blame my oven which cooks rather slowly.  Fortunately such flourless cakes can cope with some squidginess in the middle.

Once cooled, the large cake looked effortlessly pretty and sliced up nicely.  However Sylvia and I were too impatient to wait for the small cake to cool.  This was our tester cake to eat warm out of the oven.  It was a rich, nutty, crumbly, berry-studded mess on the plate.  I had high hopes for this cake and it didn't let me down.

It was like a big warm macaroon.  Only better.  I love anything with dessicated coconut but macaroons are special because I love them with a Proustian nostalgia.  Hence I renamed it a Macaroon Cake.  After all, once I added pistachios, it felt wrong to call it an almond and coconut cake.

The cake accompanied me to a birthday dinner for my nephew Cooper.  It is the second birthday dinner we have had at my brother's place recently.  The above photo is of my niece Ashton's birthday spread.  I loved the cute shapes in the fairy bread that you can see at the front.  There is also lemon slice, grubs and rocky road.  Delicious.

Even more impressive is my sister-in-law, Erica's, cake decorating.  At the back of the above photos you can see the owl cake in slices.  Below is Cooper's alien cake.  Aren't the lollypop antennae cute?  Sylvia was intent on having a "pom-pom" off the tummy.  I must try to make Erica's mum's chocolate caramel tarts (with butternut snap bases) that went down a treat. 

It wasn't all sweet food.  I have been using these occasions to try out some sausage roll recipes that I will post about after some further experiments.  As for the cake, I think there might be a few tweaks when I next bake it.  I did consider some orange zest, slices of peach or other berries but most of all I want to try a chocolate version.

I am sending this cake to Karen of Lavender and Lovage for the July Tea Time Treats event, which is Summer Fair and Fetes and Cakestall Cakes and Bakes.  Having coeliacs in my family means I am always pleased to see gluten free cakes at a cake stall, and having to carry it home, means I want something that is sturdy enough to travel.  Plus I want something pretty and a little special.   This cake fits the bill.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Mulled wine and chocolate cake
Two years ago: Pumpkin, Ricotta and Facon Spaghetti Bake
Three years ago: Breakfast Burritos – My Way!
Four years ago: Corn bread, borscht and common sense
Five years ago: Mexicale Pie - an old favourite

Macaroon cake with raspberries
From Wayfaring Chocolate

1 and 1/2 cups (170g) almond meal (I used pistachios for a third of this)
1 and 1/4 cups (275g) caster sugar
3/4 (70g) desiccated coconut
200g Nuttelex (or butter)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (55g) fresh or frozen raspberries.

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Grease and line a 24cm round cake tin.  (I used a 22cm springform tin and a 10cm springform tin).

Mix the ground nuts, sugar and coconut in a mixing bowl.  In a large jug or small mixing bowl, melt nuttalex gently in the microwave (which means you can get away without cooling it as you would need to do if melting on the stovetop).  Whisk in the eggs one at a time with a fork.  (Be quick if you are paranoid as me about chunks of cooked egg in the cake, even if the butter is so cool it couldn't cook the egg.)  Add vanilla and whisk to mix.  Pour butter mixture into nut mixture and gently mix until combined.  You will have quite a thin batter.

Pour batter into prepared cake tin(s).  Dot with raspberries.  Bake at 180 C for about 50-55 minutes (or 70 minutes if your oven is slow like mine).  The cake will be golden brown and feel cooked in the centre, though even then I found mine quite soft when I served (but that was fine).  Serve warm or at room temperature.

On the stereo:
The Soft Bulletin: The Flaming Lips

21 comments:

  1. Looks a lovely cake. I love soft squishy nutty cakes like this. Adding the pistachios was a nice touch too. Looks like a wonderful party :)

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    1. Thanks Katie - I am with you on soft squishy nutty cakes - and the pistachios went well

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  2. This looks amazing, I wonder if I could replace the eggs so my mum could enjoy it (she's vegan AND wheat-free)

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    1. Thanks Rachel - I had wondered how easy it would be to veganise this - I would try a half version so you have less eggs to replace - my favourite egg replacer lately is chia seeds which I think would work well with nuts but I am unsure how firm it would be - would some baking powder and/or cornflour also help the texture to rise and set????

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  3. FABULOUS TTT entry thanks and I am so pleased you got to make a GF Cake Stall Cake too! I LOVE raspberries and that looks VERY indulgent! Karen

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    1. Thanks Karen - every cake stall needs a gf cake - it is very indulgent (though I like to think it just full of good things)

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  4. Your little assistant is doing a wonderful job, the cake is very pretty. The alien cake looks fantastic too, it's so cute!

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    1. Thanks Mel - the photo of sylvia pouring the wet into the dry ingredients had to be fast as she had almost finished by the time I was ready to snap :-) Yes I love the alien cake too

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  5. I am starting to worry about the time between bookmarking a recipe and actually making it - I have bookmarked this cake but think it could be many months before it appears! You are delightfully organised and I like the sound of your tweaks, especially the pistachios. Sounds like a great result and a great party.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I highly recommend bookmarking your recipes somewhere like delicious that allows you to tag your bookmarks - it has helped me to go back to recipes I would otherwise forget. As for organised, I was actually lucky to have to stay at home to look after sylvia who was not well which is the only reason I had the time to make all the food I did

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  6. I'm so glad you liked this cake! I love your pistachio twist, too. I'll definitely be trying that in future; I adore pistachios :)

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    1. Thanks Hannah - somehow I didn't think you would try my suggestions of orange zest or even chocolate :-) I thought pistachios were a good one to use if you can't eat almonds or just don't have any around (and happen to have pistachios that really should be used) I'd love to try walnuts but I think they might be too robust for the cake

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  7. Hi, I am visiting through Tea Time Treats. This looks delicious with the moist crumbs and raspberries. I would love to have some for sure.

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    1. Thanks Mich - welcome! it is very moist but the raspberries work really well in not making it soggy - I was pleased about this as I have been looking for a good flourless raspberry cake recipe

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  8. Wow, there's some great party food there. Your cake sounds devine - I love raspberries. The owl and alien cakes are so cute!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - the cake was amazing - one of the best flourless ones with raspberries I have found - and aren't those birthday cakes cute

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  9. I bet the coconut gives it so much moistness and such a great texture! I know I'd love this.

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    1. Thanks Joanne - mixing coconut and ground almonds is genius - I love coconut in cake but never had it this way before - am sure you would love it

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  10. The ingredients in this do make it seem like a giant macaroon--and I bet the pistachios were lovely in it. Sounds like everyone had fun at the parties, too! (PS forgot to say--like the new background! Has it been that long since I've commented??? Aye!).

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