In honour of my birthday today, I felt to share the most light and lovely gluten free orange & almond cake that was dreamt up by my dear friend Michelle. She is a baker extraordinaire and her gluten and dairy free recipes are simple, easy and scrumptious. I’ve slightly tweaked it by adding coconut, but you can leave that out if you want to 🙂

Ingredients:

3 eggs
Zest and juice of two oranges
160 grams dairy free margarine
1/3 cup coconut sugar
250 grams almond meal
2 teaspoons vanilla powder
2/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shredded coconut
100g flaked almonds
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 170oC

Toast almond meal in oven for about 7 minutes till starting to brown a little

Melt the margarine then allow to cool

In a large bowl, blend well the eggs, orange zest and margarine till light and fluffy

Add coconut sugar, vanilla, baking soda, shredded coconut and cooled almond meal and blend well to form a sticky but not too wet mixture.

Put into the loaf tin and sprinkle with flaked almonds

Bake in a lined loaf tin for about 40 minutes till it’s brown on top and you can insert a skewer and it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and skewer all over the top of the cake while its still in the tin.

Combine the orange juice and maple syrup and pour over the top of the cake while still in the tin. Allow time for the cake to soak it all up before slicing and serving.

I served it warm with a dollop of coconut cream but it’s equally lovely cold with a lovely hot cup of tea.

Joyful birthday to everyone! with love, Sarah