I love cake, well made European style cakes. However, I try to restrict refined foods to the weekend. This gluten free cake, adapted from Amy Chaplin’s recipe, is a good midweek cake sans the cake guilt. This hazelnut & berry cardamom
cake is full of good things, is gluten free & refined sugar free.
Maple syrup is a great sweetener, containing minerals zinc & manganese. Zinc is essential for immune function, skin health & reproductive health. Manganese is a cofactor for superoxide dismutase on of the bodies most powerful antioxidants. Hazelnuts contains many nutrients including the amino acid arginine, important for detoxification, wound healing, immune function & hormonal function. Regular nut consumption is attributed with lower rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes & heart disease. In addition, berries are a low calorie & nutrient dense fruit that are an excellent regular addition to the diet. Berries are in season at the moment & are really cheap & delicious. I used frozen ones as I always have them on hand in the freezer. This cake is easily adaptable, swap out the berries for stone fruit or apples or pears. Swap the hazelnut flour for almond. Or swap the buckwheat flour for oat or brown rice flour.
Hazelnut & berry cardamom cake
Angel Munro
2 ½ cups of hazelnut flour
½ cup of buckwheat flour
1 tsp of baking powder
2 large eggs
2/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup of melted extra virgin coconut oil
2 tbsp of vanilla
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup of raspberries fresh or frozen
1 cup of blueberries fresh or frozen
Zest of ½ an orange
½ a tsp of ground cardamom (freshly ground is best for flavour but you can use pre ground)
In a medium bowl mix buckwheat flour, hazelnut flour & baking soda with a whisk until well combined & there are no big lumps.
In another bowl whisk together melted coconut oil & eggs until slightly pale & fluffy, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the vanilla, zest, salt & maple syrup. Mix well.
Add the dry & the wet ingredients together & mix until well combined. Then fold through the fruit. Pour into a lined loaf tin 13cm x 23cm or a 23cm round cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes at 180C. Leave in the tin for ten minutes, then lift out onto a cake rack & leave to cool completely.
Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.