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Easy Single-Serving Almond Cakes with Maple Glaze

Almond flour isn’t something I use too often, but it’s a great ingredient. Since it’s just pulverized almonds, it isn’t a real flour that will absorb water and rise in backed goods, but combined with wheat flour, it adds a great flavor and rich but fluffy texture. Today, we’ll be using it to make a fluffy French Almond Cake, just like Julia Child’s. Except nothing like Julia Child’s. This vegan version is super easy to make, and strikes that perfect balance between being a healthy dessert (with plenty of flax and whole wheat flour) and tasty (with the rich almond flavors and maple glaze).

In the end, I divided the cake into single-serving ramekins which made them seem fancier, and paired them with a 30-second almond glaze from nothing more than almond butter and maple syrup. They’re an incredibly tasty dessert that can be made in less time than it takes to watch one episode of The French Chef… might I recommend serving these cakes at your next Champagne and coffee party in honor of the Queen of Sheba?

Makes 4 mini cakes

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup almond or nondairy milk
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons almond butter
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350º F

Step One

Make a “flax egg” by combining two tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 4 tablespoons of fresh water, stir together and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes until the flax forms a gel. This replaces an egg in the cakes and helps the batter hold together.

Step Two

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients – almond flour, wheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir together.

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine the wet ingredients – non-dairy milk, brown sugar (yes, sugar is wet ingredient), vanilla, and coconut oil (melt the coconut oil before adding). Stir these together.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix together (as always avoid over mixing as the wheat flour will become tough and rubbery). A few tiny clumps are okay.

Step Three

Grease 4 ramekins with a dab of coconut oil and divide the batter evenly between them. Then, transfer to the center of a 350º oven and bake for about 25 minutes, watch closely to prevent overcooking and remove as soon as a toothpick comes out clean.

Step Four

While the cakes are baking, make the glaze! Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons almond butter with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and a handful of chopped almonds. Warm over low heat and stir until smooth. If the glaze feels too thick, simply add a teaspoon or two of water and stir until combined.

14 Comments

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  1. These sound amazing! I’m about to wrap up my fourth week on no sugar, but looking for some healthier alternatives for sweets and desserts to start making (sparingly) soon. This looks perfect. Will make these soon and report back!
    I love all of your recipes I’ve made so far, thanks for everything!!!

  2. Hi Andrew,
    I just made these and they look amazing, and so easy to make. I was fortunate to have all the ingredients (mostly staples in my house). Cant wait to have them for desert tonight. Thanks for another great recipe.

  3. Can you make your own almond flour by pulverising almonds in a food processor? I haven’t seen almond flour on sale in my neck of the woods.

    • I think so… just make sure you process enough until they’re ground into a smooth powder, too many chunks might be a problem.

  4. Hi Andrew,

    I was so excited when I saw this recipe! Made them tonight and they were delicious – hubby wanted to eat the whole batch! A couple of things I tweaked that may be of help to others based on earlier comments.

    I used a muffin and made 8 tiny cakes, still needed to bake for 25 minutes.

    I make my own almond milk, so substituted 1/2 cup of “damp” almond meal for the almond flour and decreased the liquid almond milk to 1/2 cup plus about a tablespoon. Damp is what is left after I squeeze it as hard as I can through a nut bag (okay, paint filter bag!)

    For the person who asked about grinding almonds to make their own almond flour, go for it! I do this a lot – but mostly I save the pulp from making almond milk and dehydrate it, then grind it in my coffee grinder to make my own flour. I think this may work better as the flour has less oils in it than you’d get with whole almonds.

    Dehydrating takes ages, at least in my oven, so I am always looking for ways to use the pulp while still “damp” – this recipe worked like a charm!

    Thanks Andrew for sharing so many inspiring and tasty recipes!

    • That is awesome feedback, thank you for sharing! I love that you used damp almond meal from your almond milk, very cool!

  5. I made this last night and it was quite tasty! The sauce is wonderful and goes really well with the cake, which has lovely soft and moist texture. The whole wheat flavor really comes through, as does the almond. I accidentally added the almond butter to the cake batter, but it still came out good!

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