This beautiful grain and nut cake is a true favourite of mine and I hereby give you permission to eat cake whenever you want.
So simple to make yet so unusual in flavour, this two-fruit cake is based on buckwheat and almonds, while bay leaf adds a subtle herbaceous fragrance. The cake is gluten-free, so long as the baking powder used is gluten-free too. Served with tea, it’s a nourishing, sustaining feel-good cake.
Makes: 1 large cake
Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Ingredients
- 150 grams (5.3 oz) unsalted butter, cut into pieces (2 cm / 1 in), plus extra for greasing
- 160 grams (5.6 oz) buckwheat
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) raw almonds
- 120 grams (4.2 oz) raw, brown or rapadura sugar
- 1 fresh or dried bay leaf
- 1 pear (approx. 100 grams / 3.5 oz), peeled and cored
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 Granny Smith (or other) apple, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices (5 mm)
- brown sugar, for sprinkling
- whipped cream or yoghurt, to serve (see Tips) (optional)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F). Grease and line a springform cake tin (20 cm / 8 in) with baking paper and set aside.
2. Place buckwheat, almonds, sugar and bay leaf into mixing bowl and mill 12 sec/speed 9.
3. Add butter, pear, vanilla, eggs, baking powder and salt and mix 50 sec/speed 5.
4. Pour mixture into prepared tin. Fan apple slices over cake in a circular pattern, then sprinkle with brown sugar.
5. Bake for 55 minutes (170°C / 340°F) or until cake springs back when touched and a wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely, then serve with whipped cream or yoghurt (optional).
Tips
- This cake can be made with other seasonal fruits (eg. apricot, peach or plum).
- Try experimenting with different flavours by replacing the bay leaf with rosemary (12 leaves) or sage (4 leaves).
- You can replace the buckwheat with buckwheat flour, wholemeal flour or plain flour.
- You can make this cake using a 22 cm / 9 in cake tin – the cake will be a bit thinner, but the baking time will stay the same.
Want more delicious and comforting cakes, biscuits, sweet treats and desserts? I have an entire dessert recipe library over here.