Lemon and Olive oil almond cake
Cooking a cake in a steam cooker? It will blow you away. The lemon cake has a heavenly long lasting, fruity meringue-like taste. With that it has a soft, cloudy consistency and melts in your mouth. Bonus:no gluten free, cows-dairy free!
Cooking a cake in a steam cooker? It will blow you away. The lemon cake has a heavenly long lasting, fruity meringue-like taste. With that it has a soft, cloudy consistency and melts in your mouth. Bonus:no gluten free, cows-dairy free!
I am a reluctant baker
I must confess I am not a huge baker. I do not have very sweet tooth, and there are so many nutritious foods I can access without changing anything to them: raw fruits, 70 % chocolate from Trader Joe’s or a Talenti sorbet will be enough for me! And my kids are similar on that account, if you add some Yum Earth lollipops… But as a mom, there are a few items you cannot help making. One is birthday cakes!
But I will not buy a cake
Do I buy birthday cakes ? No! And the reason is simple: I like to taste the cake, not just look at the cake and eat an oversweet frosting. My honest opinion is, I feel birthday cakes you buy are pretty to look at, but all taste the same, i.e. I can’t recognize what the base cake is made of.
So, I make my own, and I do make a frosting when my kids ask for one, not for myself. I am still experimenting with making frosting that does not overpower, or better complement, the taste of the cake.
Let’s just focus on cake!
The theme of this post is not birthday, but cake. I just experimented a new recipe for my birthday, and lucky me, it was DELICIOUS, fruity, quite literally melted in our mouths. And so simple!
A fruity, melty cake!
Summer equals fruity, doesn’t it? Lemonade is refreshing. We barely entered the fall season but North Carolina is still so hot a fruity cake fits the bill!
I like not to waste, so I made it with two out of three lemons with the peels, one peeled lemon. Skin intensifies the fruitiness even more. But you need to adjust sugar amounts. I make it with almond flour, because it melts better in your mouth, and it is gluten free. The olive oil only increases the fruitiness and the creaminess of the cake when blended with the steamed lemons.
What do I steam in the lemon cake?
The cake is steamed in two ways: First, the fruits are steamed 20 min only; they are detoxified that way, and don’t lose their nutrients and phytochemicals. They also maintain their natural tastes better. Only by trying can you be believing! It is exceptional.
Second, the cake dough is steamed in a mold in the steam cooker. It implies owning molds that fit in the sieve. You can find a few examples here. Cooling times adjust well since the gentle steam penetrates the dough and cooks the same time if not faster. The result is a fruity lemony cake, with a hint of cardamom and oil , easy to digest. melting in your mouth .
Is steaming healthier?
Steaming is healthy in many ways. In some of my youtube videos, I expand on why I advocate for steam cooking. The VItaliseur specifically is a great cooking tool because it detoxifies foods by making them sweat like in a sauna, while preserving as much nutrition as it can by cooking under the boiling point in a abundantly yet gently circulating steam.
Why does steaming cake change it’s consistency?
The gentle steam gently penetrates the cake and cooks it more efficiently. It does take as much if not less time for a cake to cook in the Vitaliseur than in an oven. The gentle steam gives the cake a softer consistency, and it does melt in your mouth! This works also for other cakes like my banana and olive oil bread ( coming up! stay tuned by signing up for recipe updates here!)
Curious to find out? Try my recipe! and let me know what you think!
COOKING TOOLS YOU WILL NEED:
- A Vitaliseur steam cooker, imported from France, 10% off and free of VAT, you just pay the shipping. You will still be using it in 30 years! Use my code to purchase it: “steamedcuisine”;
- A 8 inches cake mold, rectangle or round, like the middle one in this set;
- A brand hand held immersion blender. If you don’t already own one, get a brand one, they will last longer! I have been owning a Kitchen Aid one for over 10 years.
- A standing mixer with a bowl and an egg beater (I have been owning a Kitchen Aid pro for over ten years, it has been a very solid ally in my cooking endeavors!);
- Unbleached parchment paper ( to avoid the chemicals). You can buy a big roll for cheap. For the sake of time, you can also get 8 inch precut discs! Since i used my 8 inch mold a lot I just made the investment and I love it!!
- Optional: A kettle to preheat the water (I use an electric kettle, this one is great and plastic free!).
You have all you need? Now let’s get cooking!
Lemon and Olive Oil Lemon Cake
New to steam cooking cakes ? Your tastebuds will be blown. Prepare for soft while dense, melty, fruity, almost fudge cake.
Ingredients
- 3 lemons ( peel one, keep the peel on the other two)
- 6 eggs
- 8 oz + ¼ cup blanched almond flour
- 8 oz + ¼ cup organic sugar
- ¼ cup evoo ( try Atlas Olive Oil selection, it is excellent olive oil from Morocco and my favorite out there, with an excellent nutritional profile! It’s perfect for gourmet dishes like this one!
- 1 ¼ tsp (aluminum free) baking powder
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp salt ( grey salt)
- For decoration: organic shaved coconut, and shaved almonds or raw pistachios, cut into small pieces.
Instructions
- Turn on the steam cooker ( you can fill the pot with about two or three inches of water preheated in a kettle to speed up the process! Add enough water, don’t forget the cake will cook in the steam cooker too, and you don’t want to burn it when it runs out! )
- Once the Vitaliseur is steaming abundantly, add the two whole lemons, and one pealed lemon. Cook for 20 min.
- After they have been cooked, take the lemons out and let them cool down. Based on your cooking experience, it may feel to you like it has not been cooked long enough, but it will retain plenty of fiber (and so, a lower glycemic index), the lemon taste will be stronger.
- While lemons are cooking and then cooling, beat the eggs with your stand mixer , then add the sugar and beat until foamy. Then add blanched almond flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom.
- Peel one lemon, cut all lemons in two and remove the seeds.
- Using an immersion blender and a tall 1 quart tall container (click the link if you don't have a container for immersion blenders), add in the lemons cut in pieces. Blend the lemons with the blender. Add in the olive oil. Note: With an immersion blender, the lemon and olive will be blended easier and more thoroughly, with a creamy texture, and much faster than with a typical food processor.
- Add the lemon and olive oil into the egg sugar and flour mix, and mix them together in the food processor bowl.
- Line a 8 inch round cake mold with unbleached parchment paper ( it helps making sure the cake does not break down or stick to the mold after cooking, which is more important with almond-flour-based cakes). Transfer the mix into the lined mold. Transfer the mold into the Vitalizer steam cooker sieve and cook the cake for 45 min. With a knife, test if it is cook enough. If the knife comes out with very little dough on it, it is ready!
- After cooking, let the cake cool down 15 min before transferring onto a round plate or platter. Decorate with shaved coconut (to avoid a very sweet frosting) , some shaved almonds or chopped pistachios.
- It’s ready ! Add some thin colorful birthday candles , light them, get the birthday star to blow! Enjoy the community time and the tasty treat ! Bon appetit!
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