Well, I know you, friends in Helsinki, you will look at the weather outside while reading this very summery recipe and think, where did the summer go? We had an amazing weather in May with temperatures going up as far as 26C and we were all happy and also quite shocked. But now it’s back to normal June weather, which is, meh. And yet, this cannot stop us from eating cakes which resemble summer!

 

 

I saw a recipe for this cake in various different websites a few weeks ago. They all looked very delicious but I wanted to make this gluten free, with a few more refreshing ingredients added next to strawberries. I worked on the ingredients and measurements a few times, and finally I made it as I wanted.

 

 

 

So, first of all, I changed all-purpose flour to brown rice flour and increased its amount. Then, I added cardamom and a generous amount of orange zest. Orange zest and almond flour work so well, together with cardamom. And yet, they do not take anything away from the main beauties of the cake, which are the strawberries.

 

 

I served the earlier version of this cake for Hellon on my regular lunch catering last Monday. It was finished within seconds – even the crumbles! The only problem with that version was the consistency and texture of the cake, which is now improved with a few more adjustments.

 

 

Enjoy this cake with some tea or coffee on a hopefully sunny afternoon! Well, I do believe the summer will come back to Helsinki at some point! How is your city doing, if you are not Helsinki?
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty:  ★☆☆ (Easy)
(makes 1 cake in 24cm diameter springform cake pan)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

175 gr. butter, softened in room temperature
2.5 dl (or 1 cup) granulated white sugar
3 eggs
3.5 dl + 5 tsp (or 1 1/2 cups) brown rice flour
1 dl + 5 tsp (or 1/2 cup) almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract, if you have any)
1 tsp ground cardamom
zest of 1 medium size orange
200 gr strawberries, sliced, plus a few more sliced strawberries for decoration
4 tbsp sliced almonds

 

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1. Preheat to 180C. Grease a 24cm cake pan and cover the bottom with a baking paper. Put aside.

 

 

2. In a mixing bowl, put butter and sugar and beat in medium speed until creamy.

 

 

 

 

3. Add eggs, one at a time, while beating continuously. Scrape the sides if/when needed. Beat the mixture until you have a smooth mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Add brown rice flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla sugar, cardamom and orange zest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Beat in medium speed until all ingredients are incorporated. Scrape sides if/when needed.

 

 

 

6. Add 200 gr sliced strawberries and fold into the batter using a spatula.

 

 

 

7. Transfer the batter into your prepared cake pan. Smoothen the surface.

 

 

 

8. Decorate the surface of the cake batter with extra slices of strawberries. Spread the sliced almonds on top of the cake. Put the cake in oven, in medium rack and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. When baked, take out of the oven and let it cool down to room temperature for at least 1 hour before taking the cake out of cake pan. Let the cake cool a bit more after that as well. Enjoy with fresh tea / coffee!