Gluten & Diary Free – yet packed with flavour… our recipe for this delicious torte from Santiago de Compostela

Lemon & Almond Torte

 

Ingredients

  • 275 grams of whole shelled almonds (skin still on)
  • 250 grams of caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs, separated
  • Zest of one large lemon plus 1 tablespoon of juice
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

For the lemon syrup, zest & juice of one lemon plus 25 grams of caster sugar

Heat your oven to 160 degrees. Line the base & then grease a 20cm round loose-bottomed cake tin.

Place the almonds in your food processor and whiz on full speed until finely ground. Place the sugar, lemon zest & egg yolks in the bowl of your electric mixer with the balloon whisk and whisk until thick, creamy & pale.

Tip in the ground almonds, cinnamon & lemon zest and whisk on a low speed until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until the stiff peak stage. Spoon in 1/4 of the egg whites to loosen and then fold in the rest; pour into your baking tin.

Bake for 45 mins. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Place the ingredients for the syrup, plus one tablespoon of cold water, into a pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Spoon over the warmed cake.

To serve, I make a lemon curd cream (I know, its not dairy free but when we have non-diary guests I buy a soya or coconut oil cream) and decorate with some fresh raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

To make the lemon curd cream; place one large egg and one egg yolk in a non-stick pan and add 50 grams of icing sugar and whisk gently to combine; add 50 grams of unsalted butter and the zest & juice one one lemon – stir over a low heat until the cream thickens.

Spoon the warm curd into a clean bowl and immediately place a piece of clingfilm directly on top (this stops it forming a skin) – pop in the fridge and remove just before serving, loosening it up with a spoon.

Bon Apetit!

Posted in Recipes

Sign up for La Villa de Mazamet’s newsletter and receive fresh news from the Montagne Noire ! Be the first to get our road trip ideas, travel diaries, recipes, special offers and so on, every month.