Flourless Walnut Fig Cake

Flourless cakes are one of my favorite desserts for dinner parties and celebrations (seriously--I shared a few of my other faves at the end of this post!). This super easy and naturally gluten-free Flourless Walnut Fig Cake is made using freshly ground walnuts as the "flour." It produces a nutty and flavorful cake that is both gorgeous and super satisfying.

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Flourless Fennel Almond Cake

I've been hanging onto this Flourless Fennel Almond Cake recipe for a couple months. I first was inspired to make it a couple months ago, when all my best college friends and I gathered in Cincinnati for our friend's wedding.

We all live scattered around the country, so any reason to come together is always also a reason to eat together and drink together and shop and laugh and dance and basically cram in a year's worth of activities in the short time we have together.

On our first night during this trip, we made plans for a big group dinner at an awesome Cincinnati restaurant called Metropole. They seated us at a big communal table right by the kitchen, and we proceeded to order nearly the entire menu (both food and drinks!).

We drank and ate and laughed and probably annoyed all the other patrons with our volume (sorry, folks!).

Among the many good things we ate that night, one of my favorites was the flourless fennel almond cake that I ordered for dessert. Just a few bites into it and I was already determined to recreate it as soon as I got home.

And here it is!

I based this recipe on one of my favorite flourless cakes, which is made with pureed boiled clementines.

I basically swapped in an equivalent amount of pureed roasted fennel, then topped the whole thing off with an anise and fennel-infused syrup. If you're a fan of licorice and anise-flavored things, you will probably love this--let me know if you give it a try!


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Loved this Flourless Fennel Almond Cake recipe? Here are three other flourless cake recipes you might like:  

• Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake
• Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins
• Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

And let's connect so you can find out the next time I post! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates.

Thanks so much for reading!

Flourless Fennel Almond Cake
Serves 10

Ingredients
1 large fennel bulb with fronds
6 large eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 1/4 cups of ground almond meal
1 1/2 teaspoons anise seeds, lightly toasted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure anise extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

For the syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon anise extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and line a springform baking pan (this is a sticky cake; you NEED a springform pan).

Remove fronds from fennel bulb (reserve) and chop bulb into thick wedges. Drizzle with oil and roast for 20 minutes, or until tender and slightly caramelized.

Transfer to a food processor or blender along with the eggs and sugar, and puree until smooth. Pour into a large bowl.

Lower oven heat to 350 degrees.

Stir in the almond meal, anise seeds, extracts, salt, and baking powder into the fennel and egg mixture and stir well until evenly combined.  Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until set. Let cool in pan 20 minutes before removing sides and letting cool completely.

While cake bakes and cools, make the syrup: Combine the reserved fennel fronds, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a gentle simmer and let cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid thickens into a syrup. Strain syrup (discard fronds), and stir in anise extract and salt.

Brush warm syrup over cooled cake, allowing it to soak in. If desired, garnish cake with a few sprigs of fennel leaves or some additional toasted anise seeds.

Serve cake at room temperature.

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Flourless Pistachio Oatmeal Muffins (Gluten-Free)

After a few weeks of heavy recipe testing for a client of mine, I ran out of all-purpose flour and sugar earlier this month. The large glass jars that usually sit on my counter have been empty for weeks, begging to be refilled, but for some reason, I've gone through three grocery orders, each time forgetting to get the flour and sugar.

I'm not sure why this is. Some kind of weird mental block, and instead of properly remedying it (you know...like by walking the three blocks to the grocery store), I've decided to use it as an opportunity to play around with flourless recipes like these amazing Flourless Pistachio Oatmeal Muffins.

All the better for you, my gluten-free friends!

This recipe actually does use a kind-of homemade oat "flour" made by grinding up some gluten-free oats in the food processor or blender. If you're sensitive to oats, you can replace this amount with something like rinsed and dried quinoa or a course cornmeal. I think dessicated shredded coconut could work, too, although that would add a bit of coconut flavor (not necessarily a bad thing!)

The base (and delicious intoxicating pistachio-y flavor) of these Pistachio Oatmeal Muffins comes from pistachio paste, which is one of my favorite baking ingredients (I used it to make these pistachio blondies, too!).

It's an ingredient that's similar to almond paste, but oilier, and comes in a can. It's made from pureed pistachio pralines, so it's already sweetened, and adds amazing flavor to just about any recipe.

Combined with eggs and oats, it makes for wonderfully moist and fragrant little pistachio cakes.

If you're a fan of desserts like financiers or dense chocolate tortes, I think you'll like these, too. I love that they're light enough to enjoy for breakfast as a muffin, but could also be dressed up with some powdered sugar or a dollop of whipped cream and berries for a really lovely dessert.

They are just the perfect amount of sweet for those days when you want a little touch of something decadent, but aren't in the mood to go full-out. It's weekday-decadent!

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Loved this recipe? Here are four other flourless cake recipes you might like:

• Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake (gluten-free)
• Flourless Clementine Almond Cake (Low-carb, gluten-free)
• Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins
  

And let's connect so you can find out the next time I post! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates.

Thanks so much for reading! 

Flourless Pistachio Oatmeal Muffins (Gluten-Free)
Yields: 6 giant or 12 standard muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 11oz can pistachio paste (such as Love n’ Bake; about 1 1/4 cups)
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 6-cup “texas size” muffin pan, or a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

Grind the oats in a  food processor or blender until coarsely ground into a powdery “flour.” Whisk with baking powder, and set aside.

Combine pistachio paste, eggs, salt, and extract (if using) and beat in an electric mixer until smooth and evenly combined (about 5 minutes). Stir in the oats just until combined.

Divide batter into muffin tin, then bake 15-22 minutes, or until puffed, slightly brown around the edges, and completely set in the center. Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes before turning out. Let cool completely on rack or serve slightly warm.

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Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake (Gluten-Free)

A few weeks ago, I went on a bit of a nut buying binge. I'm not sure what prompted it, but at the height of craziness I looked around and realized I had pounds and pounds of nuts in my kitchen. I was like a squirrel saving up for winter.

I've slowly worked my way through most of them, except for a lonely bag of raw cashews that was just sitting in my refrigerator door.

At first I was going to make a cashew cheese dip with it (it's something I make regularly for the vegan yoga groups I cook for up in Vermont), but then realized that I also have a fridge full of real cheese, so what the hell would be the point of making fake cheese?

(Answer: there would be no point. Absolutely NO point.)

So a little non-vegan baking was clearly the way to go.

I decided to make a nut meal by grinding the cashews up in the food processor, then using them the way I'd typically use almond meal. Combined with a bit of ground gluten-free oats, they made a beautiful base for this cake. I love how the cake has a bit of a crunchy crust while staying moist and slightly crumbly on the inside.

Olive oil instead of butter. Crunchy turbinado sugar. A real vanilla bean scraped in and flecked throughout the batter.

Seriously. So much good stuff going on here.

And if you eat paleo, you can easily adapt this by subbing in coconut palm sugar and quinoa for the oats. Now everybody can enjoy!

The final cake is a perfect tea time cake.

Or coffee time cake.

Or breakfast time cake.

Or The Mindy Project is about to start in, like, two minutes and I need something sweet time cake.

(That happens to you guys, too, right?)

A little sprinkle of powdered sugar on top using my super cool new powdered sugar wand which you can kind of see in the top left of the above photo (Say what? Seriously!), and this lovely one-bowl baby was good to go.

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Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake (Gluten-Free)
Makes 1 9" cake (about 8 servings)

Ingredients
2 cups coarsely ground raw cashews
1/3 cup coarsely ground rolled oats (use gluten-free oats to make this cake GF) OR rinsed and toasted quinoa
1 cup turbinado sugar (such as "sugar in the raw") OR coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, beaten well
1/2 cup olive oil
1 whole vanilla bean, scraped OR 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure orange extract (optional)

Confectioner's sugar, for garnish (optional)

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" round spring-form pan and layer the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cashews, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the beaten eggs, olive oil, vanilla bean seeds, and extract(s), and beat well to combine.

Add the batter to the prepared baking pan, and bake 25-30 minutes, or until golden and fully cooked. (Note that the top will look a little bubbly--that's OK!)

Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then use a knife to loosen from the sides and remove. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve dusted with confectioner's sugar.

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Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins

While I'm not making any specific promises, you should know that there is a chance that these Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins might help you live forever.

Here's the story:

A couple months ago, Eugene read a story in the news about a new Harvard study that showed that people who eat a handful of nuts a day live longer than those who don't. The report said that for the benefits to work, one has to eat a serving of nuts at least 7 times a week.

We conjectured that since a handful of nuts can help you live longer; eating MORE than a handful will probably make us live forever. We're already big nut eaters in this household, but since then, it's become something of a slightly-morbid joke for us.

Anytime one of us wants a snack or just happens to eat something with nuts, we'll say "Eating nuts--going to live forever!" Or "I ate more nuts than you today; you better catch up so you don't die."

We also chase Hudson around and feed him almonds and hazelnuts so that he can live forever, too.

(He loves nuts, so he's a fan of this game.)

With this (admittedly flawed) theory in mind, I created these delicious muffins so that we can all live forever in delicious style!

These muffins are made with no flour or refined sugar. The base is cashew butter, which you can make by finely grinding cashews until it turns into a smooth, buttery paste (you can also buy it, of course!).  This is mixed with eggs, cocoa, maple syrup, a little vanilla, salt, and baking soda, and then baked into giant puffy muffins.

I love to make these in giant muffin pan (that holds 6 instead of the usual 12) for a fabulous oversized muffin (for maximum live-forever-properties, you see), but you can also make it in a regular muffin tin or even a loaf pan.

These are fantastic on their own or warmed slightly and spread with butter. They keep well for a few days (thanks to those glorious life-giving nuts!), but can also be made and frozen.

Enjoy these muffins. I'll see you in a 100 years!

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!      
 

Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins
Makes 6 giant muffins (or 12 regular muffins)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups smooth cashew butter (substitute almond, pecan or other nut butter, but make sure it's a very smoothly ground butter--nothing course or crunchy), slightly warmed until easily stir-able
5 large eggs
2/3 cup maple syrup (substitute honey; do not use agave)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease an extra-large muffin tin (or use a regular muffin tin).

Beat together cashew butter and eggs with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Beat in maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Mixture will be smooth, thick, and glossy (like a brownie batter).

Divide batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until puffed up and cracked on top. A tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

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Low Carb Flourless Clementine Almond Cake

The day after making this cake, I forced myself to cut what was left into slices, wrap them individually and hide them in the back of the freezer. At which point I promptly pulled one slice back out of the freezer and ate it.

Because it is good!

This whole clementine cake is a classic Sicilian recipe, which I learned about by way of the incredible Nigella Lawson. Much like my whole orange bundt cake, this cake is made using whole clementines that have been boiled until tender and slumpy, then pureed into a smooth, intoxicatingly flavored paste.

Eggs, ground almonds, baking powder, and (in the original) sugar are added, then the whole thing bakes up into a moist, slightly spongy, and incredibly fragrant cake.

I think I mentioned earlier that I've been sticking to a fairly-strict low-carb diet in preparation for some upcoming on camera projects I have next month. The lack of sugar also helps me with my focus. (I have ADHD and the less refined sugar I consume, the better my brain works.)

Noting the lack of flour in this cake, I figured I could easily adjust it to be low-carb by replacing the sugar with a mix of erythritol and granulated Splenda. Erythritol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol with a scale of 0 on the glycemic index (my favorite brand is Zero by Wholesome Sweeteners); this means it has the equivalent of no effect on your blood sugar levels. Wonderful for baking, it's best when paired with another sweetener in order to create a synergistic effect that is most pleasant in the final dish. (If you already have a preferred sweetener alternative you use for baking, feel free to use that instead--I'm sure it would be lovely with sucanat or coconut palm sugar, too; this is a very forgiving recipe as long as the volume stays about the same.)

Apart from the sugar swap, I also played with the recipe by adding a touch of kosher salt and a couple teaspoons of almond extract to play against the bitterness of the clementines.

While the cake baked, the aroma of citrus and almonds wafted out of the oven and filled our apartment like some kind of delicious, intoxicating room perfume. I spent the last few minutes of baking time dancing around in front of the oven as I impatiently waited for the timer to buzz.

The results were even better than I'd imagined. (Hence my aforementioned disciplinary measure.)

Spongy, not-too-sweet, and just a touch bitter in the absolute most perfect way possible. Eugene tasted it and pronounced it "a very sophisticated cake."

I absolutely agree.

This is a lovely everyday cake, best eaten straight out of hand while cuddled on the couch with a mug of something hot. And it is a stunning cake to serve company--particularly if you know your guests prefer subtle sweets.

I think it would also be a perfectly acceptable breakfast cake. As it contains no flour, it is also a lovely gluten-free cake recipe.

If you're not watching your sugar, you can of course stick to the original recipe; I share both options below.

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Flourless Clementine Almond Cake Recipe
Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
Serves 10

Ingredients
4 clementines (about 13 oz)
6 large eggs
1/2 cup erythritol + 1/2 cup granulated Splenda OR 1 cup Swerve sweetener OR for a regular not-low-carb version, you can also use 1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups of ground almond meal (or 9oz of almonds finely ground)
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Place the clementines in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer 1 1/2 hours, until very tender. Remove from water, then chop and remove seeds. Add the remaining boiled clementine (everything but the pits) to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line a springform baking pan (this is a sticky cake; you NEED a springform pan).

In a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs for 5 minutes until very light and frothy. Add the sweetener or sugar, clementine puree, ground almonds, almond extract, salt, and baking powder and beat again for 5 more minutes until very light. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until set. Let cool in the pan, then unmold and serve.  I sprinkled it with some powdered sugar before serving, but it's also lovely plain.

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 220
Fat: 16.3g
Protein: 10.4g
Carbs (using Swerve): 10g (total) and 6g (net)
Carbs (using Splenda): 13g (total) and 9g (net)
Fiber: 4g

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Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes w/ Bittersweet Ganache Icing

Last Sunday I woke up with the urge to bake so even before Eugene had completely opened his eyes, I made my way into the kitchen and got to work.

You know I love to bake with almond meal, so I decided on a chewy macaroon-like cupcake that used almond meal and ground desiccated coconut as its base. I used coconut oil instead of butter (you can also use olive oil if you don't have the former) and a bit of coconut milk for added moisture. A generous shot of my homemade vanilla extract helped round out the flavors.


They baked up perfectly in just about 20 minutes, after which I bopped around impatiently waiting for them to cool. The tops are golden and chewy, and the insides are very soft and moist. I topped a few of them with some leftover bittersweet chocolate ganache I had in the fridge from a cake I made earlier in the week. The sparkles are silver sanding sugar that I bought at Williams Sonoma last year, but have never quite gotten around to using yet. I love how they contrast with the shiny foil liners, although in the future I will use paper liners; the foil ones don't allow the bottom of the cupcakes to cool properly and they tend to steam a bit which isn't ideal for a cake.

That evening, after a day spent indulging in various dishes at the 9th Ave International Food Festival, I brought these cupcakes over to my future in-law's house for dinner. They were meant to be a gift for Eugene's dad who is a coconut fiend, but he was forced to share as the rest of the table dove in.


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New to Always Order Dessert? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates by filling in your address in the box on the right.

And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Thanks for reading!

Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes
These chewy and moist cupcakes can be served with or without the chocolate ganache icing.

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened ground desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine the 2 cups almond meal, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ground desiccated coconut, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the base of your mixer, combine the cup of sugar and the 4 large eggs. Whisk for 4-5 minutes, or until the eggs are light, frothy, and have doubled in volume. Add the coconut oil, coconut milk, and vanilla and whisk until incorporated.

4. Fold in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are well incorporated.

5. Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to divide the batter evenly between the tins (you should get about a dozen large cupcakes, 2 dozen small ones).

6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the tins and let cool on a rack. Serve as is, or if you'd like, top with chocolate ganache. (Recipe below)

Best served within 24 hours.

Basic Bittersweet Ganache

Ingredients
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 pound bittersweet chocolate (chips or chopped)

Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Heat the heavy cream over medium heat just until it reaches a simmer. Pour the hot heavy cream over the chocolate pieces and used a whisk to mix and combine until smooth. Let cool at room temperature. The ganache will thicken when cool.

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How to Eat Soufflé

I used to make something I called Sugar Soufflé. I didn't really make it so much as I collected handfuls of sparkly mica-flecked rocks from under the back porch, placed them all into a pile, and imagined that they were a delicious airy concoction that tasted of vanilla, marshmallows, and melted butterscotch ice cream. I served this odd, tasteless dish to my brother and the neighbor girl who was forced to play with my 6-year-old weirdness. Though the reality of Sugar Soufflé was disappointing and, well, rock-like, the fantasy was acutely delicious. I can still just about picture how good it tasted in my head, and I suspect I've spent the proceeding two decades searching for a flavor that would match that which I'd imagined so long ago.

My first soufflé certainly ignored many of the basic principles of souffle-making. Outside of the imagination, rocks are typically too heavy to keep aloft among the delicate peaks of a stiffly beaten meringue. Puree, however, works perfectly. A few months ago, I read a great little post by one of my favorite food bloggers, Zen Chef, who wrote about how he--in a pinch--transformed a half-melted carton of Ciao Bella passion fruit sorbet into a restaurant caliber dessert. As an undying fan of passion fruit, I always have a carton of that particular sorbet in the freezer (or icy and melty on a table near me) and decided that perhaps it was time to put this recipe into action.



Half-way through an episode of Lost, I bopped up from the couch and went into the kitchen where I started mixing and beating and sugaring my way to my very first passion fruit sorbet. It looked perfect. Light and with an airy rise a full inch above the rim of the ramekin, this souffle was impressive. But there was just one problem; it didn't taste like much. Maybe it was the eggs or the sorbet, but the passion fruit flavor was lost among the egginess and all I tasted was something that tasted like a sweet, airy omelet. It wasn't *bad* per se, but it wasn't at all what I expected.

My boyfriend and I each finished one souffle, and the leftovers were wrapped and placed in the fridge. "Maybe I'll eat it for breakfast," I told him.



But then I forgot about it.

Two days later and the (now totally collapsed) souffle was still sitting in the fridge. Craving something sweet, I finally pulled it out and scooped it into a plate. Topped with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream and a handful of berries, I sat down on the couch to eat what I expected would be a passable treat. OH. MY. GOD. was I wrong! It was...incredible! I can't even describe how transformed this cold, fallen souffle tasted. It was as if the passion fruit had suddenly woken up and bathed itself in a silky caramel-tinged custard. With the mild whipped cream and the tartness of the berries, this was pure delight. I offered Eugene a bite who agreed that this dessert had come a long way since the sugary omelet of a few days past.



I ate it slowly, not wanting the goodness to end, and not until I near the end did it finally hit me. Sugar Souffle!! This was precisely the flavor I'd been imagining all along.

The recipe for the original souffle came from here, but if you really want to taste what my childlike imagination conjured all those years ago, I suggest you let them cool, cover with plastic wrap, and keep in the fridge overnight. The next day, top with some berries and a big plop of whipped cream. I think you'll like...

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Flourless Chocolate-Orange Almond Torte

I was home alone tonight. Eugene went out with a few friends and though I was invited, I opted for the quiet evening at home. These solo nights are rare, and I looked forward to having a few hours to read and write and watch multiple episodes of Law & Order. I'd previously bought some salmon for tonight and decided to go ahead and make it anyway. Glazed with an easy miso dressing, broiled, and served on a bed of watercress, it made for a decadent solo dinner. But while incredibly tasty, I found myself with a creeping, but very distinctive craving: chocolate.

I went back and forth over my options. There was a bar of 70% chocolate in the fridge waiting to be attacked. Or I could go the virtuous route with a mug of hot, unsweetened chocolate-flavored almond milk. But I know myself, and I knew that neither of those choices would satisfy.

What I really wanted was something moist, with deep chocolate flavor. My mouth watered as seemingly every commercial on NBC showed peanut butter cups and those silky Dove squares. The crave was getting stronger and I knew that if I didn't act on it soon, I might end up doing something really naughty, like whipping up another German Chocolate Cake.



Luckily, I remembered the flourless chocolate hazelnut torte I first made last year. It's a low-carb treat that uses ground nuts instead of flour and Splenda instead of sugar, but which tastes deceptively sinful. A smaller version made in one of my mini springform pans, using ground almonds and a hint of orange zest seemed more and more like the only viable option.

Into the kitchen I went, haphazardly dumping everything into a bowl and mixing by hand. I didn't even bother to beat the eggs separately. I poured the batter into the tiny baking dish, and about 25 minutes or so later I had THE perfect little cake. It puffed up nicely, (almost like a souffle!) and the inside was simultaneously moist and light, with just a hint of molten filling at the very center. And the magical thing is that somewhere between the mixing and the baking, the orange and almonds combined to give the cake a practically ambrosial flavor.



This is the perfect cake when you're home alone, and it's easy enough that you won't feel guilty about making it just for yourself. If you have someone to share it with, well then, all the better! Add a dab of whipped cream and a handful of berries, and this just might make a perfect Valentine's Day dessert. I only finished about a third of the cake, but even if you do manage to get down to the crumbs, it's small enough that I won't allow you to feel guilty about (just look how tiny it looks next to my 8"--it's practically a muffin!).

Flourless Chocolate-Orange Almond Torte
Serves 2 (or 1, if you don't feel like sharing)

Ingredients
2/3 cup ground almond meal (you can also use hazelnut or pecans)
3 tablespoons good unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar or equivalent substitute (such as granulated Splenda)
1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 medium eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablspoons water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

To make:

1.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 4" mini springform pan or ramekin

2. Combine the dry ingredients and the zest in a bowl, followed by the eggs, oil, water, and extracts. Stir until well combined.

3. Pour into your greased pan and place in the oven. The baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in the environment. Start checking it about 25 minutes into baking. It will be ready when the batter is set and the cake puffs up and cracks slightly. (Avoid inserting a tester)

Once it's ready, remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Remove the sides of the springform pan or serve right in the ramekin. Dust with confectioner's sugar or top with whipped cream to serve.

12

Coconut Lime Torte, Three Ways

The five-pound bags of almond and coconut flour that I purchased recently have been taunting me mercilessly since their arrival. The giant blue and white striped bags have spent the past two weeks sitting in the middle of the coffee table waiting for me to turn them into something lovely. It's been a tough several days, though, and I admit that I've spent most of my evenings battling a case of Holly Golightly's "Mean Reds" that left me kind of teary-eyed and unmotivated to do little else but read recipes and watch movies. And so the bag has sat; frangipane tarts and financier officially on hold.

Until Wednesday. A evening dash to the grocery store to pick up a few staples proved to be just the thing to push me out of the slump. I arrived home, arms loaded down with the weight of my reusable grocery bags when I heard the phone ring. I dove into my purse to find my phone, knocking over a bag of produce in the process. Out rolled a calvacade of artichokes and asparagus followed by a few frisky limes. The limes rolled out across the table in the direction of the flour, where they stopped right at the bag; kelly green rind kissing the bulging bag of almonds. I looked it while I talked, my brain already racing ahead. Within minutes I was in the kitchen grating and mixing and humming the lime in da coconut song that my friend Lindsay used to drive me crazy with in college.

The end result was lovely: a moist, green-flecked cake with subtle hints of lime and coconut. Putting the lime and the coconut together did, in fact, make me feel better! The first night I ate the cake straight, a warm slice right out of the oven. The next day I had a slice for breakfast that tasted even better as the flavors had been given a chance to meld together.

That evening, I stopped by the bodega to pick up some some paper towels when I saw a whole bag of star anise on sale for a dollar. I snatched this up and decided to get creative. In a small saucepot, I mixed half a cup each of coconut milk and cream, and simmered with a few anise stars. I sweetened the cream and poured it over a generous slice of cake. Incredible! The anise brought out the warm, tropical flavors of the cake making for a delicious dessert.

This morning I decided to try the now slightly-stale cake (stale because I was lazy and didn't wrap it properly last night) as French toast! I beat one whole egg with a bit of cream and some cold star anise tea, and soaked the slices before frying in butter. I topped with a drizzle of anise-simmered syrup. Wow! It smelled so good that I didn't have the patience to photograph it properly, so I just dug in.

Coconut Lime Torte

Ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flour
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about two limes)
Rind of 1 whole (unwaxed) lime
1 cup sugar or equivalent substitute
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
6 medium eggs
1/2 cup olive oil

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons water



1.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" round or springform pan.

2. Combine the nuts, rind, sugar (or substitute), salt, and baking powder in an electric mixer or food processor and pulse a few times until any lumps are broken up.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the oil and lime juice. Continue to mix at high speed for a couple minutes to work some air into the batter--it should grow in size a bit.

4. Pour into a greased springform pan and place in the oven. The baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in the environment. Start checking it about 30 minutes into baking. It will be ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. When ready to glaze, mix the powdered sugar, water, and lime juice together until smooth. Drizzle all over the cake and allow to set. Serve immediately after glazing.

Additional Serving Suggestions:

**Serve day-old cake in "cream" puddle of 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream simmered for a couple minutes with 4 star anise and 2 teaspoons of sugar.

**Serve slightly stale cake as French toast using a batter of 1 whole egg, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream, and 3 tablespoons of cold-brewed tea (I used leftover black leaf & star anise tea, but feel free to get creative!). Soak a slice in the batter on each side and fry in 1 tablespoon of butter. Serve with warm syrup (simmer with star anise, if desired).

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Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake (The Results & The Recipe)

I was a little bit worried about this caked. It looked beautiful, but I wasn't convinced that the flavor combination of hazelnuts, coconut, and Meyer lemon was exactly right. Well, I was proven wrong! I brought both cakes into work with me last week (the flourless chocolate hazelnut torte and the Meyer lemon cake), and both were big hits.

My coworkers were divided on which they preferred. The lemon cake disappeared first, but I got more requests for the chocolate torte recipe. I'm convinced that the lemon cake works best a day or even two after it's been baked. The flavors blend in with each other and seem to mellow out in a way that is really quite perfect. I was surprised by how prominent the coconut flavor was--everyone noticed it right away. And like me on the first night, nobody could believe that neither one of the recipes contained any flour!

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but I'm willing to bet that the lemon cake will go from "great" to "WOW!" if the hazelnuts are switched out for almonds. I encourage you guys to try it out and let me know what you think... (And feel free to send me your mediocre pics!)

Now for the recipe:

Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake (100% flourless)This cake tastes better the second or third day, after the flavors have had a chance to meld. If you can, try and make it at least the day before then store in an air-tight container at room temp. Glaze just before serving (otherwise the glaze will melt).
Ingredients:2 cups almond or hazelnut meal
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flour
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice (approximately 2 Meyer lemons)
Rind of 1 Meyer lemon
1 cup sugar or equivalent substitute
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
6 medium eggs
1/2 cup olive oil

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

1.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" round or springform pan.

2. Combine the nuts, lemon rind, sugar (or substitute), salt, and baking powder in an electric mixer or food processor and pulse a few times until any lumps are broken up.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the oil and lemon juice. Continue to mix at high speed for a couple minutes to work some air into the batter--it should grow in size a bit.

4. Pour into your greased pan and place in the oven. The baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in the environment. Start checking it about 30 minutes into baking. It will be ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. When ready to glaze, mix the powdered sugar, water, and Meyer lemon juice together until smooth. Drizzle all over the cake and allow to set. Serve immediately after glazing or cover with a loose cake cover (plastic wrap will only make the glaze melt or flake away--think Krispy Kremes at the bottom of the box. Yummy, just not as pretty.)

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Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake

It's citrus season! At the grocery store tonight, I went a little crazy throwing blood oranges and Meyer Lemons into my basket, giddy with the possibilities. The scent of the fruit tickled my nose the entire subway ride home.

If you're not familiar with the Meyer Lemon, you need to stop reading and head to your nearest grocery store right now. Larger, rounder, and with a slightly more orange hue than the conventional lemon, the Meyer Lemon originated in China, where it's believed to have derived from the Mandarin orange. The skin of the Meyer is thinner, making for a softer and juicier fruit, but what stands out above all is its enticing fragrance. It's a sweet, citrus smell with earthy undertones; I've always thought it resembled a blend of oranges and Christmas trees.

Much sweeter than the regular lemon, Meyers are ideal for use in desserts. I'm planning to whip up a Meyer Lemon ice cream at some point in the next couple days, but I couldn't resist playing around with it tonight. While at the store I also picked up a bag of ground almond meal and happened to come across some organic coconut flour. While I've read quite a bit about coconut flour, I'd never actually seen it at the store before. In fact, the only reason I found it today is because I dropped something and so happened to look into that last shelf. There were piles of coconut flour bags and only two dollars each (much more economical than the 14 dollar almond meal). I grabbed a couple, with the intent to experiment with it this weekend.

On the train home I started thinking about the torte I made last night. I decided to use the same basic recipe, replacing the cocoa powder with coconut flour and exchanging a half cup of Meyer lemon juice for the water. A little lemon rind for color and additional flavor, and presto! Torta di Limone!

The cake that came out of the oven was lovely and moist, but not quite as fluffy as the chocolate torte. I was pleased with the golden color of the crust, but still felt it needed a little extra something. I decided on a glaze, borrowing Peabody's recipe from her gorgeous post about Meyer Lemon Madeleines.

I made a tiny version for tasting purposes and am still on the fence about it. I think the problem is with the hazelnuts. While fantastic with cocoa, they feel a bit too overpowering in this recipe. I want the lemons to be the main event here, but right now they're getting lost beneath the strong hazelnut flavor. I was tempted to try again using almond meal, but it was already so late that I resisted. (I don't sleep much as is, and baking three cakes in one night is definitely pushing it.)

Take two will have to wait for tomorrow. I'm not going to post the recipe yet as I still need to tweak it. I think I'll bring the cake into work tomorrow to see what people think and then go from there...

UPDATE: From the LA Times, 100 Things to do with Meyer Lemons

Also coming up in the next couple days:

• Blood Oranges in Italy!
• My answer to a reader question about buying and preparing fish...
• And a special recipe from a secret Guest blogger!

Stay tuned!
**And for those of you on Facebook:
Join the Always Order Dessert Facebook group! (Note that you must be logged into your account to see the page)

13

Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

After writing yesterday's post about the difference between tarts and tortes, I had a hard time getting both out of my head. When I got home from dinner tonight, I could resist no more and decided to poke around in my kitchen to see what I could throw together. I've been promising the girls at work that I would bring in a treat for them soon so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try something new (as if I need more excuses for random late-night baking).

A bag of hazelnut meal that I had been keeping in my freezer since Thanksgiving was the inspiration for this light, flourless torte with just a hint of nutty crunch. The ingredients are few and simple (ground hazelnuts, good cocoa powder, olive oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs), and the process is very quick. And I mean really quick... I was enjoying my slice about an hour after I decided I wanted to bake something.

The decadent secret behind this deceptive little torte? Olive Oil. (Shhh...)

I started using olive oil in my baking out of laziness, really. I was baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies one day when I realized that I'd run out of butter. Not wanting to run out to the store to buy some, I decided to experiment with a bottle of olive oil I had sitting on the counter. The end result was incredible--moister, and with an additional layer of flavor that I was definitely not expecting, but am now completely unwilling to give up.

If this is your first time baking with olive oil, you might be wondering what kind. It's really up to you. A light olive oil with a mild flavor could be a good start if you're concerned about the flavor notes being too distinct. Personally, I go straight for the strong stuff. For this recipe, I used very fruity Tuscan extra virgin called Laudemio. It's made by the Frescobaldi family, one of the big, old families in Florence (along with the Puccis and the Ferragamos) known mainly for their award-winning "Super Tuscan" wines. It is a bit pricier than the average bottle of olive oil ($35 to $40 a bottle), but the flavor is so incredible that you won't regret it. In Italy they say the test of a good oil is one that can be drizzled over fresh cooked gnocchi and enjoyed as is with no additional flavors. This is definitely one of those oils.

The fruitiness of the oil contrasts well with the hazelnuts and silky cocoa powder. If you don't have hazelnut meal (also a Whole Foods buy), you can replace it with ground almonds or pecans--just be sure to toast them before grinding to remove the excess moisture, which is key to keeping your torte light. A teaspoon of baking powder gives the cake a little lift, but feel free to skip if you don't have any on hand or want to avoid for dietary reasons  (this also makes a great Seder cake for Passover).

I think you'll be surprised with the texture of this cake. Most flourless tortes tend to be very dense and almost pudding-like, but this one is very light and nutty. You'll swear there is flour in it when it comes out of the oven. It almost made me wonder if some kind of kitchen poltergeist tossed some into the Kitchen Aid while I had my back turned

(I have kind of an overactive imagination sometimes.) (Or most of the time...).

Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Torte
I was originally going to top this with a bittersweet chocolate ganache,
but it came out so perfect that I decided to skip that and just rely on the
great flavors of the cake. I suggest serving with a dusting of confectioner's sugar and a little dollop of homemade whipped cream on the side.

Ingredients
2 cups hazelnut meal (you can also substitute almond or walnut meal)
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons good cocoa powder
1 cup granulated white sugar (for low-carb, you can use granulated Splenda)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" round or springform pan.Combine the dry ingredients in an electric mixer or food processor and pulse a few times. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the oil, water, and extract. Continue to mix at high speed for 2-3 minutes to work some air into the batter.

Pour into your greased pan and place in the oven. Bake about 40 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Once it's ready, remove from the oven and let cool. You can store in the fridge, but be sure to serve at room temperature for the best flavor. Enjoy!

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