GF Almond Cake with Strawberry Sauce and some Garden Whimsy

Sculpture by Laura Bambolini

Okay, I'm over the deer thing.

I'm overwhelmed with this summer extravagance

 Everything wonderful is lush and abundant

and there is still so much more to come......

Obviously there is enough to go around for every being.

And I find myself abundant with gratitude

I planted strawberry plants under a few rose bushes about 7 years ago

after reading the suggestion in a magazine.

They grow like crazy and wander all over my gardens in the yard

so that when you go to harvest a bowl full you search

under and around everything like an Easter egg hunt

Sculpture by Laura Bambolini

Jubilant with berry abundance I made a strawberry sauce

and then started craving a dense almond cake to go with it

like the Gateau Britton that I used to make for mornings in the cafe

Often it will take me a few times to get a cake recipe right,

but this one was perfect the first time out of the oven

Enjoy the bounty!

Kyra

GLUTEN FREE ALMOND CAKE

with STRAWBERRY SAUCE

Sauce:

1 qt of fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and cut in half

Sweetener of your choice, I used coconut sugar

Pinch of sea salt

1 T unsalted butter

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Place the strawberries in a medium saucepan, and using a fork or potato masher,

smash the berries a bit to release their juice

Add your sweetener, how much depends on your berries, sometimes you don't even need any.

I used 1/4 cup of coconut sugar

Place over a medium low heat and stir frequently until berries and sugar turn into

a wonderful sauce, about 15 minutes.

Add a pinch of salt and the T of butter, continue stirring until butter is melted and sauce

has thickened slightly.

Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract

Set aside to cool

Cake:

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

1 cup almond meal

2/3 cup sweet brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 1/2 T baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup sunflower or coconut oil

3/4 cup brown rice syrup

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (Native Forest is my favorite brand)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9" springform pan

In a large bowl combine all your dry ingredients with a whisk

In another bowl whisk all your wet ingredients until smooth

Pour the wet into the dry and stir until everything is evenly moistened

Pour your batter into the prepared pan and bake until tooth pick in center comes out just clean of crumbs.  This took 35-40 minutes in my oven.

Let cake stand on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, remove the springform band and allow to cool completely.  Serve with sauce and some cream if you wish.

Yum!

Note: you can easily substitute honey for the brown rice syrup and would probably want to omit the maple syrup since honey is a bit sweeter.