Ayurvedic Honey Almond Cake

A little bit of something sweet to enjoy after a nice meal always hits the spot! This moist and delicious honey almond cake honors ayurvedic principles by serving something both pleasing and nutritious. Almonds are ojas boosting, as is honey. I adapted a recipe, with gratitude to theoriginaldish.com, to make it more ayurveda friendly! Instead of cooking the honey, it is add after the almond mixture cools. I switched white sugar with coconut sugar, (but you could also use brown sugar), so as to make it less overtly sweet and more balancing for all doshas. I always use less sweetener than recipes call for so I halved it from the original recipe, and I still think it tastes divine! I served it at the Spring Radiance Retreat and it was a hit. And, it’s gluten free, so let’s dig in!

Interested to learn more about Ayurveda? It’s not too late to join the Ayurveda Deep Dive. I’ll send you the recording from last week that you missed and you can jump in tonight for our 2nd of 8 classes!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup rice flour

  • 1 cup fine almond flour such as Bob’s super-fine almond flour

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 1/2 c ghee, softened

  • ½ cup coconut sugar

  • 2 large eggs, room temperature

  • ½ cup greek yogurt

  • 2 tsp pure almond extract

  • ½ cup honey

  • ½ cup water

  • ½ cup sliced almonds

  • powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8” cake pan really well with butter and dust it with rice flour to ensure the cake doesn’t stick to the pan (bottom and sides).

  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the softened ghee, and coconut sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment, cream together for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Mix in the yogurt and almond extract until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix just to combine and remove any lumps. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

  4. Transfer the batter to the cake pan and spread into an even layer. Bake on the middle rack for 35 minutes, until deeply golden and just set in the middle. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges. Place a cutting board on top of the cake pan and flip the cake over so that it releases from the pan. Allow the cake to cool fully.

  5. Once the cake is cooled, heat water in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes until reduced. Turn off the heat. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes, then add the honey.

  6. Spoon the honey mixture over the cake. Use a bread knife to cut the cake into slices. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Lily Russo