Lemon Almond Cake
Serves: 4 to 6
A delicious dairy-free and gluten-free Lemon Almond Cake using whole lemons which are gently cooked until tender and then blitzed to produce a wonderfully moist cake. Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Ingredients
- 400 g (13 oz) lemons, about 3 lemons, organic and unwaxed
- 250 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 250 g (2 ⅓ cup) ground almonds, (almond meal)
- 6 eggs
- 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
Instructions
To Cook the Lemons
- Place the lemons in a medium saucepan and cover them with water.
- Bring the saucepan to the boil and then reduce to a simmer, cooking the lemons for about 1 to 1.5 hours until the lemons are soft to the touch and a sharp knife goes through the skin easily.
- Keep an eye on the saucepan and top up with boiling water from a kettle as necessary.
- Once the lemons are cooked, remove them to a bowl and let them cool completely. I tend to cook the lemons the night before making the cake and simply leave the lemons at room temperature overnight.
To Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) (without fan).
- Grease and line the base of a 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin.
- Place the cooked lemons in the food processor and blitz until you have a fine purée. Remove any seeds that remain.
- Add the sugar, ground almonds, eggs and baking powder.
- Blitz again until everything is well combined.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour, until a metal skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. At about 40 minutes, check to see if you need to place a sheet of foil on top of the cake to stop it from browning too much.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
Kitchen Notes
- TIPS FOR MAKING LEMON ALMOND CAKE
* Due to the use of whole lemons, this is a very moist cake so you need to be make sure that the centre of the cake is cooked through.
* I like to bake this cake in a ring cake tin or bundt pan so that the cake cooks evenly throughout more easily. When using such a pan, make sure that you fill it to about 1 inch (2 cm) from the top to allow the cake room to rise. - STORAGE TIPS
This cake keeps well on a covered cake stand for several days at room temperature. However, if the weather is warm, I recommend keeping this cake in the fridge. - OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.