Elderflower & Almond Cake (gluten-free and vegan)
Serves: 10 - 12 slices
Prep: 15 minutes. Bake: 18 minutes for sandwich cake/40 minutes for drizzle cake
Suitable for: those on a vegan and gluten-free diet
A delicious vegan and gluten free fragrant cake - two versions either sandwich as shown in photo below or loaf with elderflower cordial drizzle
Elderflower & Almond Sandwich Cake using home-made Elderflower Cordial
Ingredients:
‘Dry Ingredients’
175g gluten-free self raising flour, sifted
25g teff flour, sifted (can use chickpea flour instead)
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder, sifted
⅛ teaspoon of xanthan gum, sifted
115g ground almonds
70g coconut sugar
200ml elderflower cordial, home-made
75ml rapeseed oil
Oil for greasing a loaf tin/sandwich tins
Icing sugar for dusting, optional
Elderflower Drizzle:
100g icing sugar, sifted
6 teaspoons of elderflower cordial, more or less depending on consistency of the drizzle.
Elderflower Buttercream
55g vegan butter, room temperature (I used Naturli Vegan Block)
110g icing sugar, sifted
1 - 2 tablespoons of elderflower cordial
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 6.
Grease and line with greaseproof paper either a 1lb/450g loaf tin or two 7½inch/19cm sandwich tins.
Weigh out all the dry ingredients except for the sugar in a bowl and combine to mix through.
Pour the oil and the cordial in a large bowl, add the sugar and stir through
Add half the dry ingredients and stir with a metal spoon to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients, first stir with a metal spoon and then gently whisk until fully combined and no lumps remain.
Pour the cake mixture into the greased and lined loaf tin or two sandwich tins and spread evenly using a spatula
Place in the oven. Bake the sandwich tins for 18 minutes and the loaf tin for 40 minutes until browned and baked through (check by passing a skewer through the centre of the cakes and it will come out clean if baked).
Remove from the oven. As soon as the tin(s) is/are cool enough to handle remove the cake and cool on a wire rack.
In the meantime, make the elderflower drizzle or butter cream (or both if you prefer to drizzle the sandwich cake too).
For the elderflower drizzle combine the cordial with icing sugar until fully blended, smooth and of a pouring consistency.
Beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth. Add the cordial and beat through.
Once the cake is cool, drizzle the elderflower drizzle over the top of the loaf cake and allow drizzle to set.
Sandwich Cake - once the sponges have cooled, spread the elderflower cream evenly over one half of the cake and place the other half on top. Either drizzle elderflower drizzle over the top or dust with icing sugar.
Slice, serve and enjoy.