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 I made this wheat-free cake for Jess to celebrate her joining the lab. The original recipe for this cake didn't mention the need to smooth down the top of the cake before baking, and you can see the results! It still tasted pretty good though. You can also substitute dried cranberries, prunes or dates for the apricots.
| 4 egg whites |
| juice of half a lemon |
| 100 g (1/2 cup) castor sugar |
| 120 g (1 1/4 cups) ground almonds, roughly chopped |
| 200 g (1 1/4 cups) dried apricots |
| 1 tablespoon rice flour |
| 180 g (1 cup) icing sugar |
| 2 tablespoons or so lemon juice |
Grease a 20 cm springform pan, and dust it with rice flour. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with a few drops of lemon juice. When the whites start to thicken, gradually start adding the sugar. Beat until the egg whites make firm peaks.
Gently fold in the almonds and the rest of the lemon juice in two lots. Toss the chopped apricots with rice flour, then gently fold into the mixture.
Tip the mixture into the prepared pan, and smooth the top with a spatula (the top of the cake won't smooth out during cooking like a normal cake). Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the side of the pan. Remove from the oven, and let rest in the pan for 5 minutes, before removing the sides of the pan and gently turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
Make the lemon glaze by mixing together the icing sugar and lemon juice to make a soft spreading consistency. Top the cake with the glaze while it is still warm from the oven, then let cool completely before serving.
August 2004
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