Desserts à la Mariane

Today marks 1 year since I started this blog! I was somewhat reluctant to put my recipes out there but after some encouragement from friends, I decided to go for it — and I’m really glad I did!

I hope you will agree that there’s nothing better than cake to celebrate anniversaries. So here’s a cinnamon almond cake I created just for this occasion! I hope you enjoy and thanks for following along!

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 6 cups almond flour
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup date syrup*
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Icing Ingredients:

• 3 cups cashews
• 1/2 cup date syrup*
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup almond butter
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water

Crumble Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

*Note: Date syrup can be tricky to find. I really wanted to experiment with it and actually had quite a difficult time finding it myself, even living in a big city. I ended up ordering it from amazon. Here’s the one I ordered, and believe me, it was worth it! This stuff is delicious and can be used in many different ways! Give it a try.

Cake Directions:

Put all ingredients into your food processor and process until smooth. Using coconut oil, grease two 8-inch cake pans. Pour the batter into the two cake pans separating it evenly between the pans. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter out in each pan so that it’s evenly distributed.

Bake in preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 30-35 minutes or until the top and edges of the cake are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Let cakes cool on the counter for about 1 hour before removing them from their pans (if you remove the cakes from their pans before they have sufficiently cooled, the cakes will fall apart).

Icing Directions:

Rinse out your food processor from making the cake batter. Once well rinsed, put all icing ingredients into your food processor and process until smooth (this will take several minutes). Transfer you icing to a bowl and let it sit on the counter until your cakes are ready to ice.

Crumble Directions:

Put your almonds into a ziplock bag. Seal the ziplock bag and make sure that no air remains. Using a rolling pin, smash the almonds to the break them up into chunks. Once you have almond pieces (some large chunks and some smaller chunks), open the ziplock bag and transfer the contents to a bowl and add the cinnamon and maple syrup. Use a spoon to mix together the ingredients. Set aside until your cake is ready to ice.

Assembly:

Take the first cake out of its pan and place it on a cake plate. Spoon some of the batter on top of the cake and spread it out evenly, fully covering the top of the cake. Next, take about half of your almond mixture and sprinkle it on top of the iced cake. Remove the second cake from its pan and gently place it on top of the first cake. Use the rest of the icing to ice the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the rest of the almond mixture on top. Transfer the cake to the fridge and let cool for 3-4 hours before serving.

Store leftovers in the fridge.

Enjoy!