Leslie's Birthday Cake - Gluten Free Lemon and Jasmine

i just started working at a little Oils and Vinegars shop in Mashpee called Gustare and i already feel like a member of the Gustare family. the women i get to work with--Leslie and Linda so far--are adorable and friendly and, most importantly, foodies. Catherine and Dave, the co-owners of the store, are open minded and open hearted. i am having so much fun there.

one of my favorite aspects of the new job, though, is that i can bring my baking experiments in to work again (i used to bring all sorts of oddities into the WRC to feed those hungry undergrads).

today was Leslie's birthday. so... birthday cake! but Leslie doesn't eat gluten, so i had to do a little searching for a cake recipe that used almond meal (because i have lots of almond meal at my disposal for macarons). i also wanted to find a recipe that used olive oil instead of butter because...ah, i work in an olive oil shop. that's kind of obvious.

right so, almond meal and olive oil... not a particularly common combination it was seem, but i honestly have no idea why not. this little cake i adapted from a french recipe i found on foodgawker.com, turned out great!

the original recipe (which you should put through the google translator for a laugh) called for lemon verbena leaves and grapefruit pulp. you'll see i've made a few significant alterations to my recipe.

note, you will need food scales for this recipe, and i recommend using a 6" round cake pan with a non-stick liner.

ingredients

• the zest of two large lemons
• 150g of course sugar
• 2 teaspoons of loose leaf tea -- i used Chinese Jasmine tea in Leslie's cake
• 200g of almond flour
• 2 large eggs
• 25g of Whole Fruit Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Gustare Oils and Vinegars.

method

using a food processor, mix the sugar and tea leaves. add both eggs and mix until well blended. add lemon zest and mix until blended again.

move egg and sugar mixture to a large bowl. add almond flour and stir with a spoon or spatula until completely incorporated.

slowly add olive oil while stirring.

the final mixture will be very wet.

pour into 6" round pan -- i didn't need to butter and sugar the pan, though if you don't have a non-stick liner, you may want to take this precaution.

bake at 325 degrees F for 35 to 45 minutes, until cake is a light brown on top. i baked the cake at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes in my super duper convection oven.

let cool, then top with a lemon glaze and sprinkles! (but be careful, not all sprinkles are gluten free!)