Lemon Almond Meal Cake

Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - contains nuts and egg  
     This is a wonderfully easy yet satisfying cake. It isn't too rich, and works really well for an afternoon tea cake, in the daily lunch boxes, or a dessert served with some cashew cream and fresh berries. The recipe was inspired by the Santiago Cake recipe in  "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adria, the head chef of the legendary elBulli restaurant in Northern Spain.
     The batter for the cake is very runny and it does not rise- therefore comes out a bit more like a slice than a cake. 

Serves 20 (or 12 if you like big pieces!)
Ingredients

• Butter (or non-dairy spread) for greasing baking tray
• Flour (gluten free- your choice) for lining the baking tray
• 6 large eggs (about 70g each)
• 150g (1 cup) rapadura sugar (or coconut sugar)
• 300g (3 cups) almond meal
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla essence or vanilla paste
• Rind of a lemon (I've used orange rind when I didn't have lemon, and it works well too)
• Icing sugar for dusting (optional)
  
  Method    

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease the bottom and sides of a 30x50cm baking tray with butter or dairy free spread. Sprinkle a little flour (any gluten free flour such as rice or potato flour) in the pan and shake around till bottom and sides are coated. Shake out any excess. Cut a piece of baking paper to fit the base of the tray and place it on top of the butter and flour.
• Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add sugar. Using either a bench-top or handheld electric mixer, beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar until thick and foamy, about 5 minutes.
• In a separate bowl, mix the almond meal and cinnamon. Finely grate the lemon rind into the almond meal. Stir until mixed.
• Add the ground almond mixture into the wet mixture, very gently, and fold the two together very carefully, trying to retain as much air in the mixture as possible.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. It should only be about 1.5cm deep. Bake for about 15-17 minutes until golden and shrinking away from the sides of the pan.
• Allow to cool completely in the pan. Remove form the pan and cut into portions. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar if desired, some cashew cream or dairy-free ice cream and fresh berries.