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| Almond flour lemon muffins - this was my favorite flavor. |
So a few weeks ago I made an amazing lemon cake for a friend's birthday. It was SO good. Especially since I made it using Meyer lemons which are just wow. So I wanted "lemon" something else. I couldn't decide between cake or muffins and honestly, they aren't that different... so the recipe I'm sharing today could be used either as cake or a muffin. You pick. Don't you like it when you get to pick?
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| Just pretend you don't notice the stray cathair on the up front cupcake. No, you don't see it. And if you want to make that nut-butter frosting, here you go: http://www.whole-body-detox-diet.com/sugar-free-carrot-cake.html |
This cake is lower in sugar than most gluten free cakes. For the main sweetener I used coconut palm sugar. If you don't like coconut palm sugar or can't find it... just use plain ol' white sugar. It will work just as well. I also used lemon gelatin in this cake for flavor. I've tried in the past to use a lot of citrus and/or lemon juice in cakes and it never goes well. SO I'm sorry if you're opposed to lemon gelatin... if you come up with another alternative let me know! All I know, is I made a vanilla version of this cake minus the lemon gelatin and I didn't like it nearly as much... so apparently I like the lemon gelatin. I'll pretend it's paleo.
I also used liquid stevia in this recipe. I used the "NOW" brand, but there are many different brands available. The cake would probably taste fine without it and honestly I wasn't a fan of using the stevia in the plain vanilla version... so take it or leave it... again, you pick. See how easy this is?
I'm including the vanilla variation at the bottom of the recipe, but I will tell you, it wasn't my favorite. ALSO... the almond flour batter is heavy... therefore it rises better as muffins or cupcakes. They are taller, prettier, and much less dense as cupcakes than it is as a cake. SO... you pick. :-)
Gluten Free Almond Flour Lemon Muffins or Cake, with a Vanilla Variation
free of grains, soy, dairy/casein, and gluten (also low in processed sugar)
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly version
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups blanched almond flour, gently packed in the cup
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 baking soda
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons lemon gelatin (about half of a 3 oz. package)
Wet Ingredients:
1 teaspoon lemon extract
10-12 drops liquid stevia
3 large eggs
1/2 cup almond milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners -or- an 8" cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom and grease pan with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil. In a large mixing bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into lined muffin/cupcake pan or cake pan. For cupcakes/muffins bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. For one-layer cake bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. For cupcakes frost with your favorite frosting or you can use a low sugar/low glycemic nut frosting such as this one.
Vanilla Variation -- If you want plain vanilla cake/muffins instead of lemon simply use 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract in place of the lemon extract and leave out the lemon jello. You may want to leave out the stevia in a vanilla version as I felt you could really taste the stevia since the cake was so plain. Using vanilla paste or the seeds from a vanilla bean might really improve the flavor of the plain cake. If you try it, please let me know what you think!
