I am heading to the West Country to visit my mother-in-law, bringing along this cake. Around three years ago she was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease which means she cannot now eat anything that contains gluten.
10 years ago I wrote down a gluten-free Almond and Blueberry Cake recipe. The addition of polenta made it slightly grainy. By contrast, this cake is soft in texture. In a previous gluten-free chocolate cake recipe the necessity for it to be nut-free made the cake quite dry. Here, the addition of some lemon curd (I used passionfruit curd on this occasion) and a lemon syrup at the end help counteract the dryness of the gluten-free flour.
For the fruit element, you can use fresh/ frozen blueberries. I used the fruit from some mixed berry cheong. Cheong is a Korean fruit syrup is made by adding one part soft fruit to one part sugar. This is stirred together and stored in the fridge for a few weeks before using.
This recipe in its original form is from the Ottolenghi SIMPLE cookbook (Blueberry, Almond and Lemon Cake, page 276). If you can eat gluten, try to make it. However you should reduce the sugar to 120 g, and bake the cake at a lower temperature of 160 C fan/ 180 C.
I baked the cake in a 6-cup fluted loaf pan from Nordic Ware which meant I did not have to ice it. As a bonus the fruit, which usually sinks to the bottom, now appears on the top of the cake.
For the Cake:
150 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120 g unrefined caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons (use the juice in the syrup, see below)
50 g lemon curd
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, beaten
90 g gluten-free self-raising flour (I used freee brand)
110 g ground almonds
pinch of fine sea salt
200 g fresh or frozen blueberries
OR
200 g berries from a fruit cheong
10 g each butter and gluten-free plain flour to line the bundt pan
For the Syrup:
60 g lemon juice
40 g unrefined caster sugar
40 g berry juice from the mixed berry cheong (if you have it to hand)
You will also need a 6-cup Bundt pan. The cake can be made in a 2 lb/ 900 g loaf tin.
How to Make:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan.
Brush 10 g of softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the Bundt pan, taking care to fill every corner.
Sift over 10 g of flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink). Set the pan aside.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the ground almonds, flour and salt. Leave aside.
Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon curd and vanilla in the bowl of a free-standing food mixer with the paddle attachment in place.
Beat on a high speed for 3–4 minutes, until light, then lower the speed to medium.
Add in the eggs and continue beating on a medium-low speed. The mixture will look slightly curdled but this is how it should look.
Add in the flour mixture. Continue beating on a medium-low speed until you get a smooth batter.
Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in the blueberries by hand.
Pour the mixture into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until the cake bounces back slightly when touched. The bounce will not be very pronounced as there is no gluten in the cake. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Whilst the cake is baking/ cooling, make the syrup. Place the lemon juice, sugar and juice from the cheong in a small pot and warm through until the sugar has dissolved.
Prick the top of the cake with a skewer. Spoon the lemon syrup all over the cake. Continue to do this until the syrup has been soaked up.
How to make blueberry or mixed berry cheong:
In a large mixing bowl, add one part fruit to one part unrefined caster sugar. For example, 200 g fruit + 200 g sugar. Stir together and place in a sterilised glass jar. Store in the fridge for a minimum of two weeks before using.
The fruit is a very useful standby for adding to cakes and as a topping for pancakes/ ice cream. I am not fond of sweet drinks, so am still thinking of what to with the juice. I could possibly add it to some rice or cider vinegar and use in a salad dressing.
