Almond and Raspberry Cake - Gluten and Dairy Free

At the end of September I will find myself in Paris for just a few days. How exciting! That will be my reward for walking The Thames Path, over 250 kilometres. What's on my shopping list? - you might well ask! Handbags, shoes, leather gloves? Not at all! I have a list of the most wonderful food shops, markets and patisseries that I am hoping to visit.

A fabulous food safari to immerse myself in deliciousness (is that a word) and a huge amount of interesting new food combinations. Maybe some truffles, cheese, baguettes and of course pastries and macarons. But until then, it's back to planning and packing and wishing and dreaming.

I have had a request for a gluten and dairy free cake. One that tastes amazing, simple to make yet ticks all the boxes. So here is my recipe. It can be made using frozen or fresh raspberries or blueberries and teems very nicely with vanilla ice cream. 

In this recipe you can use butter instead of the dairy free spread if you wish.

Almond and Coconut Cake with Raspberries
Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free

1 1/2 cups (170g) almond meal
1 1/4 cups (275g) caster sugar
3/4 cup (70g) desiccated coconut
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g Nuttelex (or any dairy-free spread), melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (frozen works perfectly well)

• Preheat oven to 170°C fan forced (350°F), lightly grease a 24cm springform pan and line base and sides with baking paper.

• In a large bowl, stir together almond meal, sugar, and coconut.

• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Stir in the melted butter.

• Next add the butter mixture into the almond mixture, stirring until smooth. Don't over stir, just until everything is combined.

• Pour batter into the prepared pan, then dot the raspberries on the top, pushing them slightly into the batter.

• Bake 45 - 50 minutes, until the cake is golden and the top springs back   when you press it lightly.

• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar.

This should make 8 servings