Passover or Gluten-Free Cake

Last night was the first night of Passover, and we went to a seder at my parents' house. Tonight, everyone came over here; we didn't have an actual seder, just a family dinner. Ed roasted two chickens, plus he made a Passover cake he found in the Nigella Feast cookbook. We also had tzimmes, made by springbok1, and brussels sprouts.

This was a seriously excellent Passover cake. A lot of Passover desserts are a little on the dry side, but this one was very moist. It was very simple, and in addition to being kosher for Passover, it's gluten-free.

Here's the recipe:

Nigella's Damp Apple and Almond Cake

For the Apple Puree
3 tart eating apples (such as Braeburns)
1 T lemon juice
2 t sugar

For the Cake
8 eggs
3 1/4 cups almond meal (see note)
1 3/4 cups superfine sugar (see note)
1 T lemon juice
1/2 c slivered almonds (the kind sliced the long way into fingernail-looking things)

Garnish
Powdered sugar (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
Strawberries (optional)

Peel, core, and chop the apples roughly, then put them in a saucepan with the lemon juice and sugar, and bring the pan to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until you can mash the apple to a rough puree with a wooden spoon. You should have about 1 heaped cup of puree. Let cool.

Preheat the oven to 350, generously oil a 10-inch springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. (If you have no parchment paper, that's OK. Ed forgot that step and it turned out fine. It is kind of a sticky cake, though; I'm sure it's easier to get off the bottom if you use parchment paper.

Put the cooked puree in a food processor with the eggs, almond meal, sugar, and 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice, and blitz to a puree. Pour and scrape (use a rubber spatula) into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake for about 45 minutes (but check after 35 to see if it's done). Test for done-ness with the toothpick test; it should come out clean.

Cool on wire rack, then remove the sides of the pan. Nigella suggests serving slightly warm, but that requires careful timing, so I'd just make it ahead and serve it cool. She suggests dusting it with confectioner's sugar (the kosher-for-Passover kind). We skipped the powdered sugar, and instead served it with whipped cream and strawberries. It was really good that way, but you know, it would be just fine on its own. This is a really good cake.

My father immediately started trying to work out a way to turn it into chocolate cake.

Note regarding ingredients: Nigella's recipe actually calls for "ground almonds," with the implication being you can grind them yourself. After buying the almonds, I spotted almond meal in the gluten-free baking section of Lunds. It was ground much more finely and evenly than we would have any hope of grinding it at home. Having had mixed results with home-ground nuts in the past, I will go ahead and recommend that you track down almond meal if you possibly can. Superfine sugar is NOT powdered sugar; it's very fine regular sugar and is supposed to dissolve well. Again, I don't know what would happen if you just put in regular sugar, but don't put in powdered sugar; that is really not what's called for here.