Poor Kam, he’s always missing out on cake. There’s few occasions lately that I’ve baked for and you should see the look on his face when he figures out that the smell wafting from the oven isn’t for him. Spoiler alert: It’s not a happy one!
I can’t blame him, I’ve baked this exact cake twice in this month alone and it’s perfection every single time. Making it again and again means I’ve sorted out my favourite gluten-free flour mix for cake baking (yay) – it’s moist, with a lovely crumb while still being quite hearty thanks to nutty buckwheat and quinoa flour. The real drawcard though is alllll those fresh strawberries. This is fruity, summer love in cake form.
The reason I’m so enamoured with this recipe is that I really love using whole pieces of fruit in baking recipes – it’s so classically rustic and charming without a lot of bells and whistles. Strawberries are also plentiful (and ridiculously cheap) at the moment so why not go ahead and bake a seriously pretty cake?
I’m told the glut of strawberries is so enormous at the moment that strawberry farmers are letting them sit in the fields instead of paying pickers because there are too many berries. Can I come pick them all in that case? If so, consider this declaration my formal application for the job! Then I could bake dozens of this moist and delicious, strawberry-studded cake…
This wholegrain cake has a whole lot of nutrition packed into each slice, as I’ve included almond meal, buckwheat and brown rice flour for moistness and nuttiness, then tapioca starch to improve the crumb. There’s sweetness and spice from coconut sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, then a touch of demerara sugar on top for a bit of crunch. The result is a truly special cake for summer that tastes as good as it looks – and lucky for Kam, the cake in this photo was finally baked just for him.
xx Ally
- 250g strawberriems, hulled and halved
- ½ cup quinoa flour
- ½ buckwheat flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup tapioca starch
- 1tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax meal mixed with 6 tbsp boiling water and refrigerate for 5min)
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup coconut or rapadura sugar
- ⅓ cup almond milk (or other milk/non-dairy milk)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar
- Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tine,
- Combine flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and put aside.
- Beat coconut butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix in flax eggs, milk, and vanilla and then gently fold in flour mixture.
- Pour mixture into cake tin, arrange strawberries cut side down on top of cake, placing as close together as possible. Do not push strawberries into batter.
- Bake for 1 hour or until cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool for 5min in the cake tin and then transfer to wire rack.
Comments 4
Looks amazing and healthy! I wish strawberries were in season right now because I would love to try out this recipe, I’ll save it for the spring!
Author
Thanx Natalie! Sorry for posting it at the opposite end od strawberry season for you!
If it helps the cake could also be really nice with any other seasonal fruit or with frozen berries. I’ve made it quite similarly with sliced apples or pears.
Hi, I’m wondering if we might be able to run this recipe and a photo on honeycolony.com in the next week in our Valentine’s Week series. We’ll of course back link back to you and this post, give photo credit and all. Looks so good, would love to share with our readership too!
Author
Hi Elisa, I would be honoured for you to run this in your Valentines week series! It would be a lovely cake for a Valentines treat (I’ve been sneakily planning to make my loving bf a few mini ones to enjoy). Please let me know if you require me to do anything 🙂