Almond Meal Sponge Layer Cake

This year was a bit of a slower start than normal for me. It was pretty busy after Christmas getting my re-brand all set for January 1st and putting the finishing touches on my free eCookbook which you can download here.

I also did something I’ve never ever done. I took a proper good long holiday. I always work through holidays but this year I put my auto-reply on and enjoyed beach days, Netflix (Sex Education - must watch!!), cooking for love, and a really refreshing holiday to Hawaii.

So I had a lot of down time to brainstorm recipe ideas, and when I thought of the first recipe to share with you for 2019, I wanted something that was a little bit special, something showing off the late Summer fruits, and something that you might like to share with your love for Valentine’s day. Not that we celebrate that, but any excuse for cake right??

So for my first recipe of the year, I’ve got a light and fluffy almond meal sponge cake that’s naturally gluten-free layered with delicious whipped yoghurt cream and topped with sweet blackberries and mint. Seriously YUM. I hope you enjoy it and most of all, I hope you share this very special cake with a very special someone :)

Happy baking, Mel x

Almond Meal Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

8 eggs, separated

1 cup caster sugar

3 cups almond meal

2 tsp baking powder

Generous pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla bean paste/vanilla extract

2 cups thickened cream

1 cup plain or vanilla yoghurt

1 punnet blackberries and mint sprigs to dress

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan-forced.

In a stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. This will take a few minutes on medium speed. Then continue beating while slowly sprinkling in 1/2 cup of caster sugar until the meringue is glossy but not stiff.

While this is mixing, in another small bowl or cup, combine egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Once meringue is ready, add yolk mixture and almond meal, fold through gently with a spatula until combined. This will take a bit of careful mixing to do so don't worry if it takes a couple of minutes. Remember to scrape the bottom of the bowl too, the yolks tend to sink to the bottom.

Once well combined, pour even amounts of batter into 2 x 20cm round cake pans lined with baking paper on the bottom and sides. This cake will even stick to non-stick pans (I tried!) so be sure to line them.

Jiggle the pans a bit to even out the batter then bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan then carefully turn out onto a cooling rack.

While cakes are cooling, place cream into a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until soft peaks then add yoghurt and beat for a further minute until your cream is whipped and holds a pattern.

Place one cake onto a plate and spoon on half the cream, layer the remaining cake on top and add the rest of the cream. Smooth out then dress with lots of blackberries and fresh mint sprigs. Serve!

*If you don't want to make a large cake, this recipe halves very easily to make just one cake :) just remember to halve the cream and yoghurt too.