This is the best almond cake recipe ever! And so light, no oil or butter used in the recipe!
Almond Cake
This simple almond cake is made with just five ingredients (not counting the berries), but don’t let it’s simplicity fool you – it’s delicious (and it also happens to be gluten-free)! The perfect dessert.
When my family gets together for holidays, birthdays, or just because, everyone chips in and brings a dish. It’s usually a given that my cousin Nina will bring dessert. My aunt recently had to stop eating gluten, so lately the desserts have been gluten-free. The last family party we had, Nina brought this cake and I loved it. I started poking around asking her questions about the ingredients, and when I realized it was fairly light, made with no oil or butter I got busy in my kitchen testing it out.
The original recipe comes from baking goddess Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook, Baking Chez Moi. If you’re a baker, this book belongs in your kitchen! The only changes I made to her original recipe was cutting back the sugar and using less egg yolks. The results were fabulous, and this cake is amazing. It stays moist for days!
How To Make Almond Cake
5-Ingredient Almond Cake with Fresh Berries
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch fine sea salt
- 2 cups almond flour or almond meal, (200 grams)
- 1 cup mixed berries
- powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9-inch spring form pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment paper, and flour (use almond meal or a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to keep the cake gluten-free).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and all but 2 tbsp of the sugar. Whisk until the yolks become thick and pale in color, about 1 minute. Whisk in the vanilla extract and the salt and set aside.
- In the bowl of a standard electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a bowl with a hand mixer), beat the 6 egg whites on medium speed until they become opaque, about 1 minute.
- Sprinkle in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and continue to beat the egg whites until they hold medium peaks.
- With a flexible rubber spatula, stir in about 1/4 of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture (no need to be gentle here). Scrape the remaining egg whites over the yolks, and about half of the almond flour.
- Gently fold them into the yolks, but only partially.
- While the mixture still has a few streaks of white left, add the remaining almond flour and fold in, folding until you have a homogeneous batter. Be gentle!
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shimmy until the batter is level.
- Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and springy to the touch. Let the hot cake cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges of the cake pan.
- Invert the cake pan onto the rack, remove the sides and bottom, and peel away the parchment paper. Turn the cake right side up and allow to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into 12 slices and serve with fresh berries.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Notes
Nutrition
Categories:
This is a delicious GF cake!! I have had people ask me for the recipe after serving it which I think is the ultimate compliment!! Thank you!! Yum!!
Sorry remembered I make it a little bigger. to make it fit my almost 10″ spring form pan. 1 +1/3 of the recipe.
4 eggs,
4 egg whites,
2 2/3 c almond flour,
2/3 c+ scant 1/4 c sugar.
1 t almond extract + 1/2 t vanilla extract.
And a little more sea salt.
I loved the taste of this cake and would love to make it again, however, I sprayed the pan with canola oil spray and it stuck. It came out in a big mess. Any tips for making it again and it coming out in one piece? Thanks.
Oh no! I’m making this tomorrow. Did you put the parchment paper and flour on top?
Easy to prepare and turns out amazing…not very sweet so the powdered sugar and fruit on top are perfect! Thank you!!
Hi, I was wondering if this recipe could be doubled? I’ve made the cake as written with excellent results but wanted to make a bigger cake for a party. Thanks!
This is a fantastic cake. I’ve made it gluten free and I’ve made it with a little pastry cream on top. Everyone loves it! It comes out perfectly every time.
Question for Gina: Can it be frozen?
This is a moist, tasty cake that’s very easy to make. We topped it with fresh organic strawberries from a local fruit stand, though I confess to sneaking some small slices without the berries the next day. This will definitely go in the rotation.
Wonderfull cake, My husband thinks his favorite. I used swerve sugar replacment for the sugar as was experimenting if that would work as I have some guests later that can’t have carbs–sugars etc. And it was great as far as we were concerned.
excellent!
Can you freeze this cake?
I love this recipe! I’m wondering if monk fruit sweetener could be substituted to make it more keto-friendly?
I just made it with swerve and we think it turned out great.
Loved the texture and chew of the cake!
Has anyone tried adding cocoa powder to the recipe to make this chocolate?
Has anyone tried a non-nut substitute for the almond flour? I can’t have nuts in the house due to a family member’s severe allergy to nuts. After reading all the rave reviews, I hope there is a substitute! 🙂