Maple and Pecan Cake (Gluten, Dairy and Refined Sugar free)

Hey Everyone!

I’m sorry for being away so long! I’ve missed your all…your blogs, your recipes, the little snapshots of your lives!

After blogging almost daily for a year, I felt I needed a little break – to focus elsewhere creatively.

And now I’m back, feeling refueled and ready to cook and create again.

And where better to re-start than with Cake!!

My bestie was coming to stay today who eats sugar free but who loves cake. So I decided to take up the challenge and make her a cake. I had a bag of pecans in the cupboard and so Pecan cake it was, with Pecan cream frosting and toasted salted pecans!

I blitzed half the pecans into flour, and added a ripe banana to the cake batter so that cake is nice and moist.

The cake is sweetened with raw maple syrup and golden granulated xylitol, and whilst I would usually put yoghurt in gluten free cake mixture, I didn’t have any so this cake is dairy free too.

My blender has broken and so I wasn’t able to make a very smooth pecan cream (you can see from the photos that its a bit grainy in texture) and whilst it was still yummy, I think a smoother cream would make a more attractive finished cake.

I also thought about caramelizing the decorating pecans in butter and maple syrup for a little extra decadence….but I salted them instead!

Now to have a slice while I check in with your blogs!

Maple and Pecan Cake (Gluten, Dairy and Refined Sugar free)

Ingredients:

For the Cake

 

• 70g almond flour
• 70g pecan flour (made from 200g toasted pecans)
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 3 tbs granulated sweetener
• 2 tbs raw maple syrup
• 2 eggs whites and 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbs Chia seeds (Chia seeds)
• 0.5 tbs Lacuma powder (optional)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch Himalayan salt

 

For the Pecan Cream

• 100g Pecans, (soaked in water for at least 2 hours)
• 0.5 tsp vanilla paste
• Tiny pinch salt
• 1-2 tbs almond milk
• 1-2 tbs Maple syrup

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Blitz the toasted pecans until a fine flour is formed. Set aside
3. Whisk together the 2 eggs, vanilla extract,sweetener and maple syrup  in a medium sized bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Mix in the mashed banana and whisk until smooth.
5. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to form stiff peaks
6. Stir the almond flour, pecan flour, lacuma powder (if using) and baking powder into the egg yoke mixture.
7. Fold in the egg whites and chia seeds (if using)
8. Bake for 60 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack

For the Pecan cream:

1. Drain the pecans that have been soaking
2. Blitz with the almond milk until smooth (you may need to also push through a fine meshed sieve)
3. Stir in the maple syrup (add by tablespoon to taste) and salt, and refrigerate until needed.

To decorate:

1. Spread the pecan cream over the cooled cake and decorate with toasted salted pecans
2. Enjoy!