Bob’s Red Mill Almond Cake Recipe – An Easy Gluten-Free Cake

I’m thankful that the talented recipe developers at Bob’s Red Mill didn’t pick up on the fact that many Americans loathe the word “moist” before putting the recipe for “Magically Moist Almond Cake” on millions of bags of their Extra-fine almond flourAlthough they’ve added an addendum to the recipe online, adding “aka Amazing Almond Cake,” they haven’t updated the packaging. And rightly so: there’s no better way to describe this cake than to attribute some kind of magic to it. Somehow, its crumb is simultaneously airy and dense, delicate and resilient, light and rich, elegant and sandy. “Amazing” just doesn’t cut it.

This recipe first came into my life in 2019 in the form of a birthday cake. A friend presented me with a single, unassuming golden-brown layer alongside a bowl of whipped cream and sliced ​​strawberries. The cake was no show-stopper, but the moment I took a bite, I knew it was something special. Since then, I’ve made it countless times. It’s luxurious enough to confidently serve at a dinner party, yet simple enough to call breakfast. It would never be out of place alongside a cup of afternoon tea or a splash of amaro at the end of an evening. You can leave it completely empty, dust it with powdered sugar, or serve it with any combination of dairy (whipped cream, crème fraîche, and ice cream work great here) and fresh fruit or jam. If you don’t believe me, just read the recipe. Comments section and you will see countless positive reviews.

While the good folks at Bob’s don’t specify the cake’s origin, it seems likely that it was inspired by Spain’s Santiago cake, a flourless almond cake that has greeted intrepid travelers and pilgrims at the end of the Camino de Santiago in Galicia since the Middle Ages. The fragrant Spanish cake is prized for its dense yet light texture and almond flavor. What’s new in this recipe is that Bob’s, the leading purveyor of perhaps the world’s largest selection of alternative flours, is also adding coconut flour to the alternative flour party. Combined with the holy trinity of baking—eggs, butter, and sugar—the ground nuts are transformed into a fragrant, homemade cake.

An unexpected bonus to this cake is that it is naturally gluten-free. Even though I consume large amounts of gluten on a regular basis, I am grateful to have a recipe in my back pocket that I can easily make for my friends who are gluten intolerant. The comments section of Bob’s recipe is full of cooks bragging about how they served it to people who had preconceived notions about gluten-free baked goods and how this cake convinced them that it could be just as good as its gluten-containing counterparts.

The recipe is also keto, paleo, and low-glycemic diet-friendly thanks to its flexible design. Whether you want to replace sugar with honey, make it vegan by replacing dairy with oil and alternative milks, use almond or lemon extract instead of vanilla, use all-purpose flour instead of coconut flour, or pour the batter into muffin tins, it always works. Again, just look at the comments section for proof — it’s full of triumphant bakers touting a host of tweaks.

But let’s go back to the fateful night in 2019 when I first encountered this cake. As I was leaving for home, my friend handed me a piece of cake wrapped in foil and told me to store it in the freezer. She promised me that somehow it was even better cold. I followed her instructions and was not disappointed. Because the cake is so moist, a trip to the freezer gives it an almost soft texture. While I love it at any temperature, I admit that I sometimes freeze it straight out of the pan. If you follow my example, you too can always have a piece of cake ready.

Additional photo illustration credits: cake photo by Kaitlin Bray