Hello, Jocelyn again this week. Jennifer has had an unfortunate encounter with gluten (no, we don’t know how it happened this time, but happen it most certainly did), so you get me :D. However, this particular recipe is still gluten free. In fact, it is one I found not long after Jennifer was diagnosed. My husband and I were having a party and wanted to have some treats Jennifer could have and I ran across this recipe. It was a jackpot find because it also has no processed sugar it in–lo and behold, the holy grail of party food (for our crew)! Sean, Jocelyn, and Jennifer can all eat it and it still tastes good! It’s particularly nice on top of that because it requires no unusual ingredients; even a usually gluteny baker (like myself) will almost certainly have everything on-hand to make this. Of course, if you’re making it for a gluten-free friend you need to make very certain that your work space and tools are decontaminated, but the recipe itself isn’t going to be a problem for you :-). If you’re just making it because it sounds tasty, however (and it is very tasty!), go for it. You may wonder why I haven’t posted this wonderful recipe sooner. Well, in part because I moved away from Jennifer and hadn’t thought about the need to bake a gluten-free desert in a while, and in part because it got shuffled out of the way in my recipe binder, and in part because I honestly don’t remember where I unearthed it (so you’re getting it how I make it, which may be a lot like another recipe somewhere on the internet <shrug>). All that notwithstanding, here it is now!

Honey Almond Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole almonds
• 4 large eggs (at room temperature–they have to sit outside the fridge for a minimum of 15 minutes)
• 1/2 cup honey (plus extra for drizzling)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenhite. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper cut to fit, and spray the paper with cooking spray too (this won’t come off the bottom of the pan well otherwise).

2. Toast the whole almonds by putting them in a single layer on a cookie sheet (one with edges is good here so they don’t accidentally get bumped and roll all over the oven or floor) and putting the cookie sheet in the oven for 7-9 minutes. Stir them about half way through, and keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn. They should get rather nice smelling though :-). Remove them from the oven and let them sit just a minute. Do not turn off the oven.

3. Separate the eggs, putting the yolks in a large mixing bowl and the whites either in the bowl of your stand mixer or a separate medium mixing bowl.

4. Put the toasted whole almonds in a food processor and grind until they are a pretty fine powder.

5. Beat the 4 egg yolks together with the honey, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add the ground almonds and mix well.

6. Beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment on your mixer or an electric hand mixer until they are very foamy, white, and doubled in volume but NOT holding peaks at all (not stiff peaks, not soft peaks, no holding shape!). FYI, the whites need to be at room temperature so that the proteins have unspooled enough support the heavy almond crumb of this cake (or so sayeth the original recipe, and it makes sense. So yeah, they do really need to be taken out of the fridge early).

7. Fold the egg whites into the almond mixture and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool a bit and then drizzle more honey over the top and sprinkle with the sliced almonds. You can toast them for a nicer texture contrast, if you want. Just put them in a little frying pan over medium-low heat all by themselves and stir until they brown up a little (usually just a couple of minutes). Enjoy!