This almond meal and coconut cake is simple to make but it looks and tastes fantastic. It is ideal for afternoon tea, or served with cream for an after dinner treat.
This cake recipe is designed to be made in a round, springform cake tin that is 20cm in diameter. To prepare the tin, grease and then line it with parchment paper. You will need a microwave safe bowl to melt the butter.
You can make the cake batter in this bowl using an electric hand whisk. Alternatively, you can add the ingredients into a stand mixer.
To make sure that your almond meal cake comes out perfectly every time you can follow these tips and tricks.
Butter – If the butter is at room temperature then it will melt faster. If you don’t have a microwave you can melt the butter in a saucepan on the stove top. Make sure you don’t cook the butter, as this will change the flavour of the cake.
Eggs – Using room temperature eggs is better for a cake than using eggs that have been in the refrigerator as it allows the yolks to split and mix more easily with the egg whites, creating an even consistency. When you beat the eggs with the butter it introduces air into the mixture. This helps to keep the cake light and prevent it from being dense.
Whisking – When you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, you will need to whisk them in gently. As soon as all of the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing. If you over whisk the mixture then you will get rid of the air that you introduced while you were beating the eggs, making the cake heavy.
Smooth – When you pour the cake batter into the tin, you can use the back of a spoon or a spatula to smooth the surface of the cake so that it looks neat when it comes out of the oven. You will be covering the top of the cake with flaked almonds, but it is still good to have a nice even surface.
Cooling – You need to let the cake cool completely before you take it out of the tin. If the cake is still warm when you release the springform tin then it might not hold its shape. It also needs to be completely cool before you dust the cake with icing sugar, or the heat from the cake will cause the icing sugar to clump together.
This almond meal cake is served cool, dusted with icing sugar. This is perfect if you are enjoying this cake as part of afternoon tea.
You could also serve it with pouring cream or whipped cream. You could add some flavour to the cream using vanilla extract or fresh vanilla, or use coconut extract and coconut cream.
Another way to serve this cake is with fruit and ice cream. Chopped cherries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make a lovely accompaniment for this cake, with a sprinkle of toasted almonds on top.
If you want to make some changes to this recipe to customise it, here are some ideas that you can try.
Vanilla Extract – vanilla extract is used to give the sponge a bit more flavour. You can choose to use a different flavour if you prefer. Almond extract would complement the almond meal and the flaked almonds used on top of the cake. Coconut extract is great if you want to give the sponge a more tropical flavour to go with the desiccated coconut.
Almonds – Flaked almonds are used on top of the cake, but you can also use some of them in the batter to give the sponge a nice, crunchy texture.
Fruit – You could add some fruit to the batter if you want to introduce a new flavour and texture. Cherries complement both almond and coconut, so chopped up glacé cherries would be a great choice. Or you could make it more tropical by adding pineapple or mango to the batter.
Layers – This is a single layer cake, but you could use two smaller tins if you wanted to make it a double layer cake. Use the flaked almonds to decorate the top cake and leave the bottom cake plain on top. You could fill the cake with a coconut frosting, made with coconut cream. You could also use some jam in the middle of the cake- cherry jam would be a great option.
Chocolate – Chunks of dark or milk chocolate work well in this cake.
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Prepare your baking tin by greasing it and then lining it with parchment paper.
Add the butter to a large, microwave safe bowl. Place it in the microwave on medium power for 2 to 3 minutes, removing it and stirring it every 30 seconds.
Once the butter is melted, add the vanilla extract and the eggs. Use an electric hand whisk to beat them together.
Next, you can add the almond meal, sugar, coconut and salt into the butter and eggs mixture. Whisk on a low speed to combine all of the ingredients.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. Scatter the flaked almonds over the top of the cake then place it in the oven for around 50 minutes. When the cake is cooked, it should spring back if you gently press on the top.
Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing it. Once the cake is cool, dust it with icing sugar before serving.
