Mixed Berry Almond Cake

This week at home, we're celebrating not only the bountiful harvest of the summer, but the one year Anniversary of this blog. I feel honored to have interacted with such a great community of writers, dreamers, and believers over the past year. Sharing my life and food allergic adventures here with all of you has been nothing short of amazing, and for that I thank all of you. I hope I can bring as much joy to everyone through this blog as I receive from writing it.

I've been wishing and craving for delicate indulgences lately and an almond flour celebratory cake seemed the perfect match. Summer berries are in full swing in the markets and I couldn't settle on just one kind to add to the cake. Inspired by the lovely Caitlin at Roost, I embarked on my own version of her beautiful strawberry cake. This is a gluten-free, grain-free, soy free cake and icing recipe.

I settled on the addition of sweet organic blueberries and strawberries, which are best bought organic to minimize pesticide exposure. These little beauties are sadly both on the "Dirty Dozen" list. Chopped walnuts seemed appropriate for some extra crunch and with the Dark Chocolate Icing, quite a pairing was made.

I have to be honest though, in the fact that the bottom of the cake harbored a slight burned taste, since I didn't cover the bottom of my pans with parchment paper. Almond flour can have the habit of getting a little charred without this precaution. The cake turned out pretty good despite that.

Mixed Berry Almond Cake

(adapted from Roost Strawberry Cake)

This makes two 8 or 9 inch cakes.

• 3.5 cups almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 6 soy free eggs
• 3 Tbsp raw local honey
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 7 Tbsp softened Olivo Coconut Spread
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup bluberries
• 1/2 chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients and add them to the sifted dry ingredients, minus the berries and walnuts. After well combined, gently stir in the berries and nuts. Cover the bottom of baking pans with parchment paper and pour in the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes, making sure to check that the center is done.

Dark Chocolate Icing

• 1/2 cup Coconut oil, melted over low heat
• 2 - 3 Tbsp raw local honey (depending on how sweet you want it)
• 1/2 cup raw Cacao powder
• 1 - 2 Tbsp So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk, Sugar-Free.
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Whisk together the melted coconut oil and honey. Slowly add the cacao powder until a thicker glaze-like consistency is made. Add the vanilla extract and the Vanilla Coconut milk to taste and consistency. If the mixture is too thin, add more cacao powder or honey. If it's too thick, add more coconut milk. Make sure the cakes are completely cooled before frosting them.

Happy Birthday blog!

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