I am putting this recipe on as a very quick post for one of my Instagram followers who has a little boy who needs to follow a special diet.
I count myself very lucky that I am one of those people who can eat anything with out worrying about health issues. I may feel a little bloated if I have eaten too much bread over a period of a few days but that’s a mere drop in the ocean compared to some people’s concerns about what they can, or usually more importantly, what they can’t eat to stay healthy. And by healthy I mean to able to function properly and in the most severe cases, even stay alive.
Cooking for a child or any family member with food allergies or other type of food related problem (something I have had to deal with personally with my own son) can be extremely distressing to both the parents and child, especially if it is a sudden change and a whole new cooking and eating routine has been to learnt from scratch.
I don’t know the reasons behind the increasing numbers of people diagnosed with Coeliac disease which has increased four fold over the past two decades, one in a hundred now having to follow a gluten free diet because of this autoimmune disease.
However, with the emergence of new gluten free products and a whole host of books, websites and blogs dedicated to gluten free eating, there is help at hand for those who want to eat a varied diet which includes the odd cake or sweet biscuit treat.
I am currently developing some recipes for Hodmedod’s, a fresh young company who are blazing a trail with their ever-expanding range of British beans and pulses and they have kindly given me some of their gluten free flours which they have in the pipeline to experiment with.
To start I thought I would use the quinoa flour, probably the most well known of the gluten free flours.
The cake has quite a strong nutty flavour, although my ten year old thinks it is ‘yummy’ even with the nuts on top, something he normally avoids. It is delightfully moist, delicious just with a cup of tea or it would be lovely served as a dessert with a spoonful of something like creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt on the side.
- 115g Unsalted Butter
- 125g Quinoa Flour
- 200g Ground Almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Cardamon Powder
- 180ml Clear Honey
- 3 Eggs
- Zest and Juice of One Orange
- 25g Flaked Almonds
- Preheat the oven to 150c (fan)
- Put the butter in a small saucepan and place over a gentle heat until melted. Leave to cool.
- Put the flour, ground almonds, salt, baking powder and cardamon in a large bowl and mix together. If the almonds are quite lumpy mix with your hands to squash the lumps.
- In a smaller bowl place the honey, eggs, zest and juice of the orange and the melted butter. Whisk together until combined then tip this into the dry ingredients and mix together until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour this mixture into the cake tin, gently scatter over the flaked almonds and place in the oven. Cook for 45 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch in the middle.
- Run a palette knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and take off the outer ring.
- Leave to cool on a wire tray before cutting.
