Apple, Date and Macadamia Cake

Sometimes my experiments end in disappointment - especially my gluten free trials which are occasionally hard lumps, crumbly messes or dry blobs. This time, that was definately not the case and this cake has quickly become my new favourite, replacing the flourless chocolate cake that I have been obsessed with for so long. It is also really easy to modify this recipe using different fruit or nuts - pick your favourite and go for it!

Ingredients

• 200 grams almond meal (buy in stores/markets or grind your own almonds in a food processor)
• 1 medium apple (grated, cover with a few squirts of lemon juice to prevent browning)
• 1/2 cup dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 100 grams butter (for dairy free replace with olive oil or toffutti for a creamier texture)
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 150 grams white chocolate
• 2 cups of coconut
• OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons of liquid caramel. I made up a batch of caramel, but burnt it a little so I added some extra water, simered it for 10 minutes then left it in a glass jar in the fridge. I now call it bitter caramel liquid and use it in cooking.
• OPTIONAL: 100 grams sugar. I have left the sugar out of this recipe entirely as it is unnecessary with the sweet apple and date and just adds calouries for the sake of it. Unprocessed sugars from apple and fruit are much better for us than refined, heavily processed sugar. If you use the caramel in this recipe, that will also contain a significant sugar content.

Method

• Dice apples into 1cm cubes and simmer 1/2 cup of water and apple with dates in a saucepan on low heat. Cook until soft.
• Melt white chocolate with butter and cinnamon, cool to room temperature before adding yolks of eggs, then whisk until all ingredients are smooth and combined. If using sugar, add half of this now.
• To the chocolate and egg yolk mixture, add the coconut and almond meal and macadamia nuts, mixing thoroughly until all ingredients are combined and smooth. Add half of the apple mixture.
• Prepare your baking pan with some butter and baking paper. You can use a square, rectangle, circle or cupcake/muffin pan to cook this recipe.
  
  
  
  
• Beat whites with an electric mixer on high for 5 to 8 minutes or until soft peaks form. If using sugar, add the second half of this now.
• The final step is to fold in the beaten egg whites with 'soft peaks'. This means to use a scraper or flat mixing tool to gently bring the contents from the bottom of the bowl to the top, merging the whites with the mixture without breaking the delicate bubbles which give this cake a lighter texture.
• Pour this into the baking tray and carefully place the remaining apple mixture in the centre of the cake, spreading it out carefully but not all the way to the sides. This will leave a sticky, moist top on the cake as it will mostly dehydrate during cooking.
• Bake in a moderate (180C) oven for 50 minutes if baking a large cake or 35 minutes if making a cupcake or muffin sized version.

To serve ... for the cake illustrated above I used a square pan and cut the cake in half along its centre, lined it with caramel cream cheese frosting (recipe below), then covered the edges to hide my sloppy work! I pressed some whole macadamia nuts into the corners and served sliced with coffee. Below this cupcake version is simply served with a blob of frosting and a macadamia nut!

Caramel Frosting Ingredients

• 100 grams cream cheese
• 100 grams white chocolate
• 2 tablespoons liquid caramel
• 1/2 cup icing sugar

Caramel Frosting Method

• Whip cream cheese with a whisk until smooth, bring to room temperature first to make this easier.
• Melt chocolate in a water bath (hot water in a saucepan with a stainless steel dish resting above the water.)
• Mix ingredients together with caramel and icing sugar. Pipe or spread onto your cake or cupcakes.