This is something of a detour from Lidl, since neither of the two main ingredients in this cake - almonds and raspberries - are available there.

I mentioned previously that ground almonds are flour to those of us who eat low carb, and this cake, which I made this morning, is a good example of how well it works. It’s moist and light and very, very good and contains absolutely no flour. And you definitely don’t have to be eating low carb to enjoy it!

I’m always looking for ways to use raspberries, because I’m lucky enough to live near to a great year-round source of them - Purcell’s in Dunmore. Fresh in summer, frozen the rest of the year, their raspberries, grown on their own farm, are full of flavour and a great bargain at just €2.50 for a one pound punnet.

Of course raspberries are completely delicious just as they come  - I regularly pinch one from the freezer and suck it like a boiled sweet. But they work brilliantly with the almonds in this recipe.

What you need

120g Ground Almonds
60g (2 oz) chilled butter
4 dessert spoons of Splenda (not sure of weight)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bread soda
50mls cream
2 eggs
4 oz Mascarpone Cheese
About 1/3 lb of frozen raspberries
30g Flaked Almonds

1. Make the cake

Mix the ground almonds and 3 spoons of the splenda, put in a blender or food processor with the well chilled butter and pulse until it looks crumby - as on the left. Take about a quarter of this mix out and set it aside in a bowl.

Add the baking powder, bread soda, cream, a third of the mascarpone, 1 whole egg and one egg yolk (keep the white). Mix this thoroughly. Put into an 8″ flan dish.

2. Make the topping

Mix the rest of the splenda and mascarpone with the egg white, beating together very well. Add a few drops of Almond essence to this if you have it, but it’s not vital.

Pour this mixture over the cake mix and spread it out, not quite to the edges of the cake. Arrange the frozen raspberries on top, then sprinkle over the ground almonds and the crumby mix that you set aside earlier. It’ll look like this picture.

3. Cook it

You need to get it into the over right away, so the two layers don’t get overly mingled.

Cook in the centre of the oven at 180 for 30 minutes  - the almonds will be nicely browned when it’s done.

Leave to cool completely before eating.

The cake keeps well in the fridge overnight, so can be made ahead of time, and also freezes very well.

It’s not that cheap, because of the ground and flaked almonds, though the fact that the cream, butter and mascarpone can be saved on at Lidl helps bring the cost down a bit.  Here’s how it panned out:

Cost: Raspberries: 80c, Eggs 36c; cream 30c; Mascarpone 75c; ground almonds 1.60; flaked almonds 40c; cupboard stuff 25c.

Total: Approx €4.45

Still, that’s only about 55c per decadent and delicious slice!

Tags: Almond, Raspberries, Recipes

Posted on Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at 7:21 pm in Recipes
Subscribe | Comment | Trackback