Gluten Free Vanilla Cake

This vanilla cake is so very tasty and easy to make too. Don’t get put off by the gluten free bit, as what makes this gluten free is the use of almond meal instead of the regular all-purpose flour. Almond meal is made from raw (unpeeled) almonds and if you come across almond flour, it is made from peeled almonds.

For those who bake regularly, you would know of the creaming method whereby you cream the butter and sugar first (till it turns pale white) before adding the eggs and the rest of the dry ingredients. But in this case, it’s the reserve where you mix the dry ingredients first and then add the butter and eggs and beat till creamy.

The original recipe has shredded coconut in the cake ingredients, but a friend suggested to use that as topping instead. So I used chopped almonds in the cake and sprinkled desiccated coconut on top of the cake. The feedback I got from some friends who tasted this cake was that it’s very good! So I do hope you will give it a try ☺️.

Ingredients

Almond meal – 180 gms
Chopped almonds – 60 gms
Castor sugar – 220 gms
Butter – 113 gms (room temperature)
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Eggs – 4
Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
Desiccated coconut – 30 gms

Method

Prepare a 9” springform baking pan by lining with baking paper and butter the pan.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix on low speed the almond meal, chopped almonds, baking powder, salt and castor sugar.
Add the softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until mixture is creamed for about 2 mins. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and vanilla extract until fully combined.
Turn on the stand mixer on low speed and slowly add the egg mixture and continue mixing. Scrape the bowl down a couple of times.
Turn the speed up to medium and beat for 3 mins until batter is pale yellow.
Pour the batter into the baking pan and sprinkle the desiccated coconut on top of the cake batter. Let the batter rest for 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Place the baking pan into the oven and bake for 45 mins. Cake will be golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
Use a knife to loosen the sides of the pan and turn the cake out onto a wire rack.
Flip the cake back over and let it cool completely.

If you make this recipe, I’d love to see your pics on Instagram and do tag @bakezbyshobz and hashtag it #bakezbyshobz