Harvest berry Almond Torte - Bake it if you want what's GOOD for YOU.

I am typing this missive from under the cover of my book den.  Towers of autobiographies, cooking books and novels surround me.  The structure made airtight by photocopies of recipes stuffed in the gaps.  Of course this is an untruth but I am being hounded by unread text...or that is how it feels.  I am inundated by others words, ideas and findings.  This is great, I learn so much, I do wonder though....am I loosing my own thread?  I've tinkered with recipes lately but not come up with any original ones of my own.  I miss the creative process.  The time spent surveying the contents of my fridge and waiting for my brain to draw a picture on my taste buds, when I then plunge into action, gathering the selected ingredients to do some culinary alchemy. Successes and failures happen.  From my successes I get to feast (and share them with you) from my failures I inevitably learn what not to do.

One of the cookbooks, flashing like a Belisha beacon to attract my attention was Gluten-free, Sugar-free Cooking by Susan O'Brien, it is not new (published 2006) but it was to me.  Susan is currently working on a new book due for sale in February 2012.

Not much in the book stood out to me as being totally original (in their defence, they've had 5 years to integrate) but there were a few that caught my eye.  This one I will share with you first.

ALMOND TORTE

I adjusted a few ingredients and also halved the quantities given in the book to suit my needs and store cupboard contents. It morphed into ALMOND TORTE WITH HARVEST BERRY SAUCE

Ingredients

1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 1/4 cup hemp milk
1 cup pea protein (Ms O'Brien used brown rice flour instead of the pea protein and coconut flour - I used them to drastically reduce the carbs..and because I didn't have any BRF)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup fruit syrup
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups ground almonds

Harvest berry sauce
2 cups freshly picked blackberries (thank you hedgerows)
1/2 cup blackcurrant, fruit sweetened jam




Method

1. preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray with oil a 9 inch cake pan (the type with the loose bottom is best)
2. in a large bowl, mix the oil and fruit syrup well then add the applesauce and juice, hemp milk and vanilla and almond extract.
3. in a separate bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and salt, along with the ground almonds. Add wet ingredients to the dry. Blend but do not over mix.
4.pour batter into your cake pan and bake for approx 45-55 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
5.cool on a wire rack for at least 20 mins before you remove from the pan.  Chill in the fridge before cutting.
6. to make the sauce, pass the blackberries through a sieve to remove some of those pips and then mix with the jam.  If you do not have jam, thicken the sauce with arrowroot. Spoon atop your glorious creation.

bup pup a pupapa paa....  TORTE

I loved it SO much I made another a few days later and this time used orange, fruit sweetened jam for the topping. It was LUSCIOUS!

 Just in case you need any more of a push to make this recipe it is so good for you and here is an info share.

Pea Protein
A vegetable based protein which offers an excellent nutritional and amino acid profile. Free of gluten, lactose, cholesterol, sugar and  is a great source of protein for those with certain food intolerance.
Per 30g:
Energy: 501KJ
Energy: 119.7Kcal
Protein (dry basis): 24.6g
Carbohydrates: 3.2g
Fat: 0.9g
of which saturates: 0.17g
of which mono unsaturates: 0.26g
of which poly unsaturates: 0.45g
Sodium: 0.4g
Coconut flour
Per 100g:
Energy: 443 cal
Protein: 17.4g
Carbohydrates: 21.7
Fat:15.1g   14g of this is MCT's - get the low down here about Medium-chain triglycerides
Reported to improve your digestive health, regulate blood sugar, protect against diabetes, lower your cholesterol.  It is gluten free and fibre rich and low in carbs. Wow.

Almonds are also power houses of goodness - Nutritionally boastful nuts

Don't even get me started on all the GOOD oils that Hemp contains

If you don't have a glossy coat and a spring in your step after that lot then....

I think you may agree...Wow.  Go BAKE!