Recipe blogs where there’s 16 pages of diary entry for a 20 line recipe are so annoying, aren’t they? I’ll endeavor to do this right.

First off, I’ll say that I learned to bake this cake in part because it’s helpful to have a gluten-free recipe or two as a baker. When you’re showing up to a friend’s house with a regular cake, you want to have something for the more sensitive and careful eaters to enjoy. This is based on a traditional French recipe. Because it doesn’t use gluten-free flour, it does not taste like cardboard or drywall. This is the variation that I tend to make at this time of year, in autumn, but see below the main recipe for ideas on how to vary the flavor profile.

• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup of whole, plain yogurt
• 1 cup granulated sugard
• 1/3 cup vegetable/grapeseed oil
• 1-2 tablespoons vanilla extract or 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 2-3 tablespoons of cardamom powder (no really, use lots).
• grated zest from one lemon, lime, or orange
• 2 cups (or 200 grams) almond flour
  • you could use regular flour instead, but it’s a lot more boring then
  • Either: A) use 240 grams AP flour,
  • or B) use half-almond flour (100 grams) and half-AP flour (120 grams)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 7″ springform pan or 9×5″ loaf pan

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and zest. Look for smooth batter.

Add almond flour, whisk in. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk thoroughly.

Pour into the prepped pan and bake 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. You can check after 35 minutes if your oven runs hotter, or after 43 minutes if it tends to run cold. It’s rarely done early.

Wait 15 minutes before removing from a springform or loaf pan.

Glaze

Choose 1 or 2, not both.

1. Brush honey onto the top of the cake before removing it from the springform, while it’s still warm!
2. AFTER completely cool and out of the pan, warm up and strain 1/2 cup of apricot jam or orange marmelade. Strain and brush over the cake once the jam has cooled a bit.

ALTERNATIVES

This is basically an almond cake, with three flavor-agents in it: Cardamom, vanilla extract, and citrus zest. You can make a very plain cake with just these ingredients:

• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 cup whole yogurt
• 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugard
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups almond flour (with caveats about AP flour, above)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

You then have to figure out the flavor agents to add to the mix:

• replace vanilla extract (2 tablespoons) with almond extract
• Use maple syrup instead of vanilla extract
• Pour in half the cake batter, then some of that jam as a middle, and then the rest of the cake batter
• replace the cardamom with diced fresh basil leaves; increase the amount of zest to two fruits and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• Remove the vanilla extract entirely; add 3/4 cup of cubed peeled apples and 2 tablespoons of apple cider.
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, and two tablespoons of mini chocolate chips.
• two tablespoons of cinnamon powder
• 2 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger root or 1 tablespoon of ground dried ginger powder.
• make the plain cake and then slice in thirds horizontally once completely cool. Spread jam or conserves between the layers.

A friend of mine (‘Tish”) asked me if this was a protected recipe. I said, “yes. That’s why it has to be shared widely.” Food recipes aren’t copyrighted for a reason — they’re an essential part of culture. If you want a culture to survive and thrive, you share what brings people together in celebration, and this is a cake worth celebrating and making with many, many variations for the seasons.