Baking

Nagi's Lemon and Coconut Almond Cake recipe

Name: Nagi's Lemon and Coconut Almond Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 150g unsalted butter; 4 large eggs, beaten; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 120g caster sugar; 135g ground almonds; ¼ tsp salt; 1 tsp baking powder; 70g unsweetened, desiccated coconut; zest from 1 large lemon (about 1½ tsp); 25g flaked almonds

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A light, buttery, gluten-free cake that contains ground almonds instead of flour. Easy to make and keeps for up to five days.

Prep20m
Cook40m
Total1h

cake gluten-free ground-almonds

Replacing white flour with ground almonds is a game-changer. The almonds add a nubbly, moist texture and a delicate, subtle sweetness (I know that’s a weird sentence).

Another bonus, and a big one for us: Col finds that his blood glucose levels climb gently rather than spiking.

I’ve had a few people ask if ground almonds make cakes taste really almondy. I get it; I’m not the biggest fan of marzipan either. Fear not though — the taste is subtle. The dominant flavour is whatever you choose: apple, marmalade, chocolate, or in this case, lemon and coconut.

Butter too. This is a buttery cake. Compared to Nigella’s Apple and Almond Cake, which contains no butter or oil, this is far richer. Both are highly recommended. I mostly prefer coconut as a savoury ingredient but this cake is beautifully flavoured and not overly sweet (although I did reduce the sugar a little).

Notes

The original recipe specifies unsalted butter. I use salted and reduce the added salt.

Recipe credit

Easy lemon coconut almond cake by RecipeTin Eats.

Recipe

Nagi's Lemon and Coconut Almond Cake

Prep20m
Cook40m
Total1h

Serves: 12

Ingredients

150g unsalted butter
4 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g caster sugar
135g ground almonds
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
70g unsweetened, desiccated coconut
zest from 1 large lemon (about 1½ tsp)
25g flaked almonds

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) cake tin with butter (I use springform).
Melt the butter: Add 150g of butter to a heatproof bowl. Either melt in a microwave or place the bowl over a pan of boiling water, making sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Allow the butter to cool for a few minutes.
Wet ingredients: Add 4 large, beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 120g of caster sugar and the melted butter to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
Dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, add 135g of ground almonds, ¼ teaspoon of salt (I use kosher), 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 70g of unsweetened, desiccated coconut and the zest from 1 large lemon (about 1½ teaspoons). Whisk to combine then stir the dry ingredients into the wet. The batter will look thick and grainy.
Bake: Pour the batter into the cake tin and scatter over 25g of flaked almonds. Bake for 40 minutes (but set a timer to check after 35 minutes). A cake tester should come out clean.
Cool: Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then place onto a rack. Cool for another hour before cutting into slices. Store for up to 5 days (in the fridge if the weather’s hot). The cake can also be frozen.