COCONUT, ALMOND AND BLUEBERRY CAKE

 

This is an easy and delicious cake. It really pays off to read the instructions carefully, because this time I didn't, and I almost burnt it. I had it warm with sour cream on its side and my husband had it at room temperature with some vainilla ice-cream. Even by itself it is lovely. Will make it again for sure 😀😋!

Ingredients

180g ground almonds
60g desiccated coconut
250g caster sugar
70g self-raising flour
¼ tsp salt
4 large eggs
200g unsalted butter, melted, then set aside to come to room temperature
1½ tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 - 2 lemons (2 tsp)
200g fresh blueberries
20g flaked almonds

Method

Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4.

Place the almonds, coconut, sugar, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to aerate and remove the lumps.

Place the eggs in a separate medium bowl and whisk lightly. Add the melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest and whisk again until well combined. Pour this into the dry mix and whisk to combine. 

* I used the Thermomix to do these steps. I first milled the almonds for about 30 sec / speed 8, and then added the rest of the dry ingredients. Combined it for 30 sec / speed 3. Then I added the rest of the ingredients (as above) and mixed them for 30 sec / speed 3.

Fold in 150g blueberries, then pour the mixture into the tin. 

Sprinkle the last of the blueberries on top, along with the flaked almonds. 

 

Bake for 50–55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Keep a close eye on it towards the end of cooking: the relatively large number of eggs in the mix means that it can go from still being a little bit liquid in the centre to being well cooked in just a few minutes.

Set aside for 30 minutes before inverting out of the tin, removing the baking parchment and placing the cake the right way up on a serving plate. It can either be served warm with cream or set aside until cool.

Serves 10 - 12

NOTES from the Author

Take the word ‘cake’ out of the title here and this pretty much reads like a list of superfoods. All food is super to us, though, particularly when the word cake is added! The cake is a variation of Belinda’s Flourless Coconut and Chocolate Cake, with the addition of some flour to offset the juiciness of the blueberries. It’s super simple and wonderfully moist. It’s also versatile, as happy to be served warm for dessert, with some double cream poured over, as it is at room temperature when it’s time for tea.

This will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container or wrapped in aluminium foil. It also freezes well for up to a month.