A cake for Easter

When I was a child, Easter would mean chocolate eggs, the amount almost as important as the quality, bragging rights at school were important. Some other kids got money or gifts and some sent each other cards. Even while I was still living at home, my mum and dad would buy me an egg every Easter although Neil and I have never really bothered about it all. For this Easter, I felt the need to make something sweet, just as much for nostalgia's sake as having a cake to eat.

 

Being on a low carbohydrate diet (which I am considering quitting), means that cakes, breads and pastries are possible, but they have to be made slightly differently using expensive, hard to find ingredients like soy protein powder and whey isolate. The main ingredient for cakes is almond meal, used as a substitute for flour. It is relatively easy to find in most supermarkets but at these times of the year it is usually sold out, so I had to compromise and buy chopped almonds to grind myself.

Most great meals and food discoveries come about by way of happy accidents and this cake is no exception. Not having ground the almonds finely enough, there were large pieces still left in the mixture which provided the nicest contrast within the cake, just as though I had actually thrown in a handful of whole or chopped nuts. I will certainly be trying it again, perhaps with a different nut like hazelnuts or pecans.

 

The cake was filled with mascapone and cocoa powder mousse and whipped cream studded with halved raspberries and Grand Marnier. Neil and I ate every piece with relish and felt satisfied without all that chocolate around.

Recipe: Almond cake with mascapone chocolate mousse and raspberry whipped cream.

For the cake (From The low carb Gourmet by Karen Barnaby)

1.25 cups almond meal or ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

6 large eggs

3 tbsp sweetener (Karen recommends using half Splenda and half Canadian Sugar Twin as they work together to create a taste exactly like sugar).

1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350oF. Butter a cake tin, line with greaseproof paper or wax paper and butter again.

Mix the almond meal, baking powder and salt together.

Using an electric whisk, beat the sweetener and eggs together for about 8 minutes until they are fluffy, pale and tripled in volume.

Add the vanilla and then add the almond mixture, fold together well and pour into the cake tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes until cooked and golden and let cool in the tin on a rack.

Remove from the tin by running a knife around the edge and inverting with a plate on top. Turn back to the right way and cut in half so you have two pieces to sandwich the fillings.

Mascapone chocolate mousse

1 tub mascapone cheese

4 tsp sugar or 2 packs sweetener

2 tbsp cocoa powder

a few drops Grand Marnier, Baileys or any other liqueur.

Mix together well.

Whipped cream and raspberries. 

1 small punnet of raspberries, halved, combined with 1 small carton whipped cream, whipped until stiff, a few drops of something sweet and alcoholic added to provide that certain adult touch.