Black cake is a Caribbean holiday staple. I've spent a lot of trial and error trying to perfect a gluten free / grain free version of black cake that I can enjoy without any tummy aches. This almond flour black cake is a winner. It tastes exactly like real deal black cake, it's gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free, dairy free and can be adjusted to be alcohol free.
Last year I made a gluten free version of black cake using all purpose gluten free flour. You can find that recipe here. It is a great recipe but gluten free all purpose flour, while gluten free is not grain free. So this Almond flour black cake is my grain free recipe and it is absolutely delicious.
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Step by Step Recipe
Before we get to the printable recipe let's walk through the recipe and the ingredients.
Wet Ingredients
For this cake I decided to go with coconut oil to make it dairy free, and coconut sugar to make it refined sugar free. You can use any other sugar alternative you like, even maple syrup. I list the substitutions below. Using coconut oil and coconut sugar also made it easy to pull the cake together as no creaming of butter and sugar was needed. Just simply whisk everything together and the cake was ready for the oven in 15 minutes or less.
Combined in the bowl above
- Coconut Sugar
- Melted Coconut oil
- Eggs
- Browning /Burnt Sugar (this is made from cane sugar so to make this completely refined sugar free just skip the browning. The flavor will be the same but the cake will be brown in color instead of black)
- Vanilla Essence/extract
- Almond Essence/extract
- Port Wine (see below for how to make this alcohol free)
- Orange Zest
- Rum Soaked Fruits
See recipe card below for exact measurements
Dry Ingredients: Spiced Super Fine Almond Flour
I added all of the warm spices, traditionally used in black cake, to the almond flour to create a spiced almond flour. Ground cinnamon, ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg and ground ginger just say holiday baking to me.
Combine the spiced almond flour with the wet ingredients to create a rich black cake batter.
Add the batter to a greased 8 inch by 3 inch baking pan, lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 °F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
TIP: After an hour of baking the toothpick may still have tiny amount of sticky batter. This is ok, the cake will continue to cook as it cools down. You can stop here if you like, or you can continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Substitutions
- Almond Flour: Can't have almond flour and looking for anther alternative? I tried this recipe with cassava flour and it was a total gummy disaster. I tried it with coconut flour and while it was tasty it was a bit dense and crumbly.
- Coconut Sugar: You can use any sugar substitute in this recipe.
- Rum soaked fruits: If you want to make this cake rum free, you can simply cook your fruits in some spiced infused grape juice and used that instead of wine. See below for how to.
- Eggs: The only recommendation for making this egg free is to use an egg replacer such as this one by Bob's Red Mill.
- Port: You can substitute the port for other red wines (such as a Cabernet Sauvignon), although port gives the best flavor.
Making This Recipe Alcohol Free
To make this recipe alcohol free swap the rum soaked fruits for spiced infused fruits:
- Add 2 cups of prunes, 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup of currants to a sauce pan. Followed by two cinnamon sticks and 1 tablespoon of cloves. You may choose to wrap your spices in a muslin spice bag or pouch for easy removal.
- Cover the dried fruits and spices with concord grape juice. This should be about 5-6 cups of juice.
- Bring to a boil on medium heat, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Then allow to cool completely before removing the spices and blending into a paste. You can also leave the dried fruits and spices to soak in the grape juice over night (after simmering) for a full flavor payout.
- Reserve some of the liquid to use in place of the ¼ cup of red wine added to the batter
- When the cake is done baking, skip the addition of rum and just allow the cake to cool completely.
Printable Recipe Card
Almond Flour Black Cake
Ingredients
- ½ Cup melted coconut oil
- ½ Cup Coconut Sugar
- 3 Large Eggs
- 2-3 tablespoons Burnt Sugar / Browning See notes for how to make burnt sugar
- 1 lb soaked mixed fruits About 2 cups (see notes for recipe)
- 1 ⅓ cup Super Fine Almond Flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Almond essence
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ cup port wine
- 1-2 tablespoons Dark Spiced Rum
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
Prepare the dry Ingredients
- In a small mixing bowl combine the almond flour, ground cinnamon, ground clove, ground ginger, ground nutmeg and salt and set aside
Prepare the dry Ingredients
- Then in a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut sugar, melted coconut oil, eggs, browning, vanilla essence, almond essence, orange zest, wine and fruits and mix together well
Make the Cake
- Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix into a smooth batter
- Pour the batter into an 8 inch X 3 inch baking time greased and lined with parchment paper
- Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and immediately pour the rum over the top of the cake. Allow to cool completely before cutting into the cake.
Notes
- I used 3 tablespoons of browning/burnt sugar in this recipe and it was really dark. If you don't want your cake to be this dark, I recommend using 2 tablespoons of browning instead.
- Find the recipe for the fruits here.
- Find the burnt sugar recipe here.
- This cake is better eaten stale. Allow the cake to sit for a day or two before eating.
- See above for instructions on making this recipe alcohol free
Shanay says
Great recipe! Cake came out great.
Althea Brown says
So glad you like it. Thanks for giving it a try.