Lemon Blackberry Almond Cake

It’s so very rare that I create recipes that don’t include chocolate, so savour this moment, my friends. This cake was inspired by a photo of it’s cooked counterpart that I saw on instagram. It came out so wonderfully — light in colour when you slice into it ( see photo at the bottom of this post ) with swirled blackberry inside.  Definitely light in sweetness too, so you may want to adjust that for yourself if you prefer things on the sweeter side. The addition of almond extract takes this from a simple cake to a slammin’ lemon almond blackberry cake. All the flavours work together in harmony making it a taste sensation, and oh-so moreish, in every bite. Serve it for breakfast with a dollop of yogurt and fresh blackberry jam, elevensies with a cuppa earl grey, mid afternoon accompanied by a few squares of dark chocolate to pick you up or after dinner with a scoop of ice cream and fresh blackberries for the win!

Lemon Blackberry Almond Cake

65g ( ⅓ cup ) buckwheat
25g ( ¼ cup ) cashews, soaked 20 minutes
125g ( 1 cup ) courgette/zucchini, peeled and roughly chopped
50g ( ¼ cup ) lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
½ tsp almond extract
75g ( ⅓ cup ) xylitol, powdered
50g ( ¼ cup ) honey
Pinch sea salt

18g ( 2 ¼ tbsp ) psyllium husk

50g ( ⅓ cup ) ground almonds
25g ( 2 tbsp ) coconut flour

5-10 blackberries, sliced
Handful sliced almonds, to finish

Method

• Soak the buckwheat 20 minutes – 1 hour, drain, rinse and allow to sprout 10 hours. Once sprouted, rinse once more before using.
  
• Be sure you peel off all the green of the courgette before using.
• In a high speed blender, blend the first set of ingredients until smooth.
• Add the psyllium and blend to combine.
• In a bowl, combine the ground almonds and coconut flour. Add the blender contents to the dry ingredients and mix with your hands.
• Add the blackberries and carefully fold in to the dough.
• Dampen a small loaf tin ( I used this one ) and line with one a strip of greaseproof paper so that you can pull the strip to loosen the cake once it’s finished drying.
• Place the mixture into the tin and fill beyond the top so it has that risen, cooked look to it.
• Scatter with sliced almonds and press them gently into the bread so they stick when it dries.
• Dehydrate in the tin on 115f for 15 hours, loosen from the tin by pulling gently on the greaseproof paper, place onto a mesh tray and dry an additional 4-6 hours.
• You may want to slice it up and dry it further if it’s still “doughy” inside.
• Serve with blackberry jam and your choice of yogurt, such as coconut yogurt. 🙂