Vegan Almond Cake

Soft and moist vegan almond cake with a crunchy sliced almond topping. This cake melts in your mouth!

Cuisine French-inspired, Italian-inspired, Vegan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1 10

Servings

Calories 284

Author Anthea

2 cups (200g) almond flour / blanched almond meal
1 ½ cup (190g) all-purpose plain flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour (use grams, note 1)
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar (note 2)
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons lemon zest or orange zest, optional
Pinch of salt

For the best results, I recommend using a digital scale to weigh the ingredients for this recipe. It's difficult to accurately measure the key ingredients using cups and this recipe has been tested using grams (except the smaller ingredients).

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line an 8-inch (20 cm) springform or loose bottom cake pan that's at least 2-inch or 5cm tall with parchment paper.
Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is well combined. Add all the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. The batter should be quite thick.
Scoop the cake batter into your cake tin. Smooth the top of the cake with a spoon or spatula. Generously sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.

Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes. The cake is ready when you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out with no wet batter (a few moist crumbs are fine). For a cake with a slightly fudgy marzipan-like center, underbake the cake by 5 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the cake pan for 30 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
To serve, dust the cake with powdered sugar. Serve with fresh berries, yogurt or as desired. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

I recommend using grams because not all brands of gluten-free all-purpose flour have the same volume measurements as regular all-purpose flour. Some brands will also make the cake batter much thicker than pictured. If so, add a dash of dairy-free milk to ensure the cake isn't dry.
This amount of sugar creates a mildly sweet cake. You can decrease the sugar to 3/4 cup (150g) but your cake will be denser and you may be able to taste the baking powder.
The vinegar or lemon juice reacts with the dairy-free milk to make vegan buttermilk and makes a cake more tender. You will not be able to taste the vinegar or lemon juice in the final cake.