This naturally gluten free dessert is excellent for summer nights, although, thanks to the farmers who freeze their berries and bring them to our farmers market, I also make this cake year round. I started only adding blueberries, but have since expanded into rhubarb based fruit layers. I love the tang of the berries along with the tang of the lemon in the cake batter.
[egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, vegan]
Cake batter:
1 1/2 cups of ground almonds
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp baking powder
zest of 2 lemons (organic)
pinch of salt
6 oz frozen pineapple, defrosted
3 tbsp vegan yogurt
1/4 c maple syrup
5 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
fruit bottom:
2-3 cups of blueberries
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Wash the blueberries and cover the bottom of a tart pan.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Defrost the pineapple in a medium mason glass jar (I typically do this in the microwave). Add olive oil, maple syrup, vegan yogurt, and lemon juice. Stick blender everything in the jar until smooth (a few strings from the pineapple that get stuck to the blender are totally fine). Fold into the dry ingredients and mix until unform.
Pour over the berries. Place a cookie sheet on the lowest rack and place the cake on the middle rack. Any juice that escapes the tart pan will go on the cookie sheet, which you can easily wash, and not the bottom of the oven, which is much harder to scrub clean. Bake for 45 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and serve.
I call this blueberry cake but I’ve now made with an apple/rhubarb compote on the bottom as well as a mixture of frozen strawberries, rhubarb and cherries. If something is frozen, which the blueberries can be as well, I give them a few minutes in the tart pan in the oven while the oven is coming to temperature to even out the temperature of the ingredients.
I chanced upon this combo of almond flour, chickpea flour and millet flour when making a crust for the mushroom and leek pie in the excellent Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moscowitz. The crusts in the book are made from wheat flours, and I needed a gluten free substitute. I am not a chemist, so I don’t know what specifically about this combo that makes it work, but so far, it’s been great. For a tart crust, you’ll need to add olive oil and water to constitute.