Photo illustration by Lille Allen; see below for full photo credits
It also happens to be gluten-free
I’m grateful the talented recipe developers at Bob’s Red Mill didn’t catch wind of the fact that many Americans detest the word “moist” before slapping the “Magically Moist Almond Cake” recipe on millions of bags of their Super-Fine Almond Flour. While they have made an addendum to the recipe online, adding “a.k.a. Amazing Almond Cake,” they haven’t updated the packaging. And rightfully so: there’s simply no better way to describe this cake than by attributing some sort of wizardry to it. Somehow, its crumb is simultaneously airy and dense, delicate and sturdy, light and rich, elegant and gritty. “Amazing” simply does not cut it.
This recipe first came into my life in 2019 in the form of a birthday cake. A friend presented a single, unassuming golden-brown layer alongside a bowl of whipped cream and sliced strawberries. The cake wasn’t a showstopper, but the moment I took a bite, I knew it was something special. Since then, I’ve made it innumerable times. It’s luxurious enough you could confidently serve it at a dinner party, but simple enough you could call it 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 bare, dust it with powdered sugar, or serve it with any combination of dairy — whipped cream, creme fraiche, and ice cream work great here — and fresh fruit or jam. If you don’t believe me, just skim the recipe’s comments section and you’ll see countless rave reviews.
While the fine folks at Bob’s do not specify the origins of the cake, it seems likely it was inspired by Spain’s tarta de Santiago, a flourless almond cake that has been welcoming 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-forward flavor. The twist in this recipe is that Bob’s — the main purveyor of perhaps the world’s greatest selection of alternative flours — also adds coconut flour to the alt-flour party. Combined with the holy baking trinity — eggs, butter, and sugar — the ground nuts transform into a homey, fragrant cake.
An unexpected perk of this cake is that it is naturally gluten-free. Although I regularly consume vast quantities of gluten, I appreciate having a recipe in my back pocket that I can easily whip up for friends who are gluten intolerant. The Bob’s recipe comment section is full of cooks boasting about how they served it to people who had preconceived notions about gluten-free baked goods and how this cake convinced them they could be just as great as their gluten-full counterparts.
The recipe is also keto/paleo/primal low-glycemic-friendly, thanks to its flexible blueprint. Whether you want to replace the sugar with honey, make it vegan by swapping in oil and alt-milks for the dairy, use almond or lemon extract in lieu of vanilla, deploy all-purpose in place of the coconut flour, or pour the batter into cupcake tins, it always works out. Again, just look to the comments section for proof: it’s filled with triumphant bakers touting a myriad of tweaks.
But back to the fateful night in 2019 when this cake I first crossed paths. As I was leaving to go home, my friend handed me a slice of the cake wrapped in foil and told me to stick it in my freezer. She promised that somehow it was even better cold. I followed her directions and it did not disappoint. Because the cake is so moist, a trip to the freezer gives it an almost fudgey texture. While I adore it at any temperature, I’ll admit that sometimes I skip straight to freezing it once it’s been unearthed from the pan. If you follow my lead, you, too, can always have a slice of cake at the ready.
Additional photo illustration credits: cake photo by Kaitlin Bray
