Almond Cake (Gluten and Dairy Free)

A couple of weeks ago, I wandered down to the local wholefoods shop, and they had sadly run out of savoury take-away food.

So I had to have cake. Terrible shame it was, and all. The cake was "Almond Bliss" - squidgy and delicious, rather like a lightened slice of marzipan.

So I wondered if I could make something similar. Much browsing of recipes online ensued. Until I remembered Pleasant View Schoolhouse had posted a simple, gluten and dairy free, almond cake recently.

It's not quite the same as the Almond Bliss, I think that had a few more ingredients than this, but it is rather good in its own right. (Edited to add: actually, that's a rather British understatement, it's blinking marvellous!)

Here it is, put into a traditional recipe format, and converted to metric measurements:

Gluten and Dairy Free Almond CakeAdapted from Pleasant View Schoolhouse

Ingredients:
5 eggs (separated)
200g (1 cup) granulated or caster sugar (with 20g (~2 tablespoons) removed and set aside)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
220g (2 cups) ground almonds
Whole or blanched almonds to decorate (optional)
Method:
1. Grease a 23cm/9 inch cake tin or springform tin, line with baking paper, and grease the paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 170C.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the yolks together with 180g of sugar, the salt and the vanilla until pale, creamy and mousse-like.
4. Separately, beat the egg whites until foamy. Then add the 20g of the sugar and beat until they form soft peaks.
5. Add one large spoonful of the whites to the yolks to loosen. Then fold in the rest of the whites
6. Add half of the ground to the beaten eggs and fold in gently. Sprinkle the rest of the ground almonds into the bowl and fold in as well.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin, decorate with almonds as desired, then bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top is barely firm and springy to the touch.
8. Leave in the tin to cool. The cake will dip in the middle as it cools. Do not eat for 24 hours if you can resist, as it is even better on the second day.

I'm entering this in #CookBlogShare


Edited to add: I'm entering this in Bake of the Week:Casa Costello