Almond, Pear and Honey Cake with Orange & Honey Syrup (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

by Michelle on May 20, 2010 · 16 comments

in Healthy Desserts


This cake is gluten free and dairy (butter & milk free) free, but you would never know, it tastes that good! It is also refined sugar free! The pureed pears gives this cake a lovely moist & buttery texture (but without the butter!). Perfect for afternoon tea!

Almond, Honey and Pear Cake with Orange & Honey Syrup (Dairy Free, Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 C. almonds, whole
  • 2 pears, quartered and steamed
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1 t. orange zest
  • 1 T. coconut oil
  • 2 T. honey
  • ¼ t. bicarbonate soda

How to make Almond, Honey & Pear Cake:

  1. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. When boiling place almonds in the saucepan for around 3-5 minutes. As the almonds are blanching, place a colander over the pot and place your pears in the colander and cover it with a lid- this is so the pears will steam and soften. You will know when the pears are steamed when you can place a knife through the pear with ease. After that time skin the almonds and then grind them in a food processor to a fine flour. Place your ground almonds into a bowl.
  2. Then using the same food processor that you blended the almonds in, puree the pears till they are homogenized and smooth. Beat your egg yolks, orange zest and coconut oil into the pear puree.
  3. Pour the pear puree and egg yolk mix into the ground almonds and stir to combine.
  4. In a separate bowl beat your egg whites with the bicarbonate until soft peaks. Stir in the honey.
  5. Now fold in your egg white mix into the almonds.
  6. Bake in a coconut oil greased and lined round tin. Cook at 160 Celsius for around 30-40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
  7. Leave to cool for 20 minutes and firm up in the tin, before turning it out and putting it on a plate right side up.
  8. Serve with orange and honey syrup (below) and powdered rapdaura sugar (see directions below).

Orange & Honey Syrup

  • 1/2 orange, juiced & zested
  • 2 T.  honey
  • 1 t. coconut oil

To make the orange and honey syrup- place the orange juice & zest, honey and coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat. Reduced until it is thick and syrupy.

Powdered Sugar

  • 1-2 T. rapadura sugar

How to make Powdered Sugar:

This is so easy to make, more nutritious than white sugar- but tastes just as good and looks a lot like icing sugar! All you have to do is grind rapadura sugar in a blender or coffee grinder until it really fine and looks white! Easy! Now in a sieve  sprinkle this over your cake.

Serve the cake with the powered sugar, orange and honey syrup and cream (optional).

Nutrition References:

What do you think of this recipe?

This recipe was posted to Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.

Michelle

Health Food Lover is Michelle Robson-Garth. Michelle is a degree-qualified Naturopath (BHSc) and Massage Therapist. She is also a passionate writer, recipe-creator and all-round foodie from Melbourne, Australia. © Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. Read the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Heather May 20, 2010 at 9:15 am

Oh my god this looks and sounds DELICIOUS!! This is my kinda cake! And it has hardly any ingredients which is great! I’m loving pears at the moment so when my exams start I will have to make this as a treat :)
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Wellness WA – Angry Almond Review =-.

Reply

Michelle May 20, 2010 at 9:46 am

Thanks Heather!

Oh yeah I’m sure given the EFAs in the almonds that gives you an excuse to make and eat it (’cause good fats are good for your brain, so good study food I reckon) :).

Reply

pierre May 21, 2010 at 6:04 am

hello michelle
this cake looks so moist I like it !! cheers Pierre de Paris
.-= pierre´s last blog ..Gelée de cacao, espuma de fleur d’oranger et glaçon G27 =-.

Reply

Zoe @ Z's Cup of Tea May 25, 2010 at 4:53 pm

Looks delicious! I like the multi-tasking: steaming the pears while blanching the almonds, and orange with the pear sounds lovely. I also love that this is SCD! Do you know how much “flour” the almonds yield after getting ground up? Thanks!

Reply

Michelle (Health Food Lover) May 25, 2010 at 9:16 pm

Oh yeah I thought I would try to simplify the steps a bit (also so there wouldn’t be as much dishes to clean ha).
Well the flour would be a little less than 1.5 C. I didn’t have my scale at the time so I couldn’t weigh it properly. But the weight after you blanch the almonds would be more (because cause they would contain water then), So I’ll see if I can find my scale and check!

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Imegahan December 21, 2011 at 10:01 am

Here in the states one can purchase gf, ground almond meal/ flour for relatively low cost. I keep a package on hand at all times, and would hasten to make this superb cake (immediately at 3:59AM), but alas, I don’t know how many cups or grams equal 1.5 cups of of fresh blanched whole almonds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have no food processor or grinder, so it’s unlikely I will ever be using the whole almond method.

Reply

Zoe @ Z's Cup of Tea May 27, 2010 at 12:25 am

SCD stands for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which was a diet originally designed to treat celiac disease but has been found to help with other gastrointestinal/autoimmune disorders like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, just to name some. It’s also been popular in the autism community for its success-oriented results. It eliminates all grains, starches, and sugars – except for those that naturally occur in fruit, and the only sweetener allowed is honey. Nuts, particularly almonds, are a major staple and are ground into “flour” for baking.
.-= Zoe @ Z’s Cup of Tea´s last blog ..Tarte Tatin for Breakfast =-.

Reply

Michelle May 27, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Cool thanks for the info Zoe! I didn’t know that! It’s good to learn something new. Feel free to join in my carnival (Wholesome Whole Foods) here at Health Food Lover this Friday!

Reply

Cheryl Padilla June 8, 2010 at 3:05 am

ok, after really reviewing this recipe, i am skeptical about cooking this cake at 160..my oven is set at warm at 170>>>>>>>is this the correct temperature?

Reply

Michelle June 8, 2010 at 3:16 am

Hi Cheryl.

It’s correct if you use Celsius :). Fahrenheit is 320 degrees. Hope that helps.

Reply

Laila December 21, 2010 at 1:29 am

I made this a couple times and it turned out great! Thanks for such a great recipe!

Reply

Michelle December 22, 2010 at 8:33 pm

So glad you enjoyed it Laila!

Reply

Imegahan December 21, 2011 at 10:03 am

Thanks so much for this great blog, and all the helpful comments the readers have shared.

Reply

Hannah June 18, 2012 at 10:45 am

I made this cake yesterday, and aside from sticking to my cake tin (I didn’t line it), it turned out great! It was so delicious and a great fluffy texture. I used almond meal and did the equivalent of 1.5 cups worth, which was about 168g from memory. I didn’t have any coconut oil so used canola. I think it would have been better with the coconut oil for the flavour but I was really pleased with it. Will definitely make again and have already passed the recipe on. I love the fact that there is no sugar in it. Thank you, Hannah

Reply

Michelle June 18, 2012 at 2:26 pm

Hi Hannah.
Thanks for letting us all know how this recipe went for you and the substitutions you made. I’m glad to know when my recipes work and when they do not, so am definitely glad this worked out well for you!
Thanks, Michelle.

Reply

Jorgovan January 3, 2019 at 10:16 am

I have to say, this is the most amazing cake! I have made it on numerous occasion. The fact that cake has no simple sugars, gluten and dairy is even more appealing. Many time, I used slices of mangoes or pears on the top of this cake and it looks and tastes even better. I am truly grateful to you for bringing this wonderful cake to us.

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