Eat Cake Love: Raspberry Almond Tea Cakes

In the summer time in Tucson a girl has to really want something baked before she’ll even think about turning on the oven.  These cakes are that thing.  My girlfriend M and I took a road trip.  Now I know cake isn’t obvious road trip food.  Road trips perhaps call for chips, bottles of cola, things like that.  But I wanted something different and something infused with love.  What says love better than cake?

I made these in mini cake molds, which, in addition to making them cute and portable, makes them taste better.   Food tastes better when it’s miniature.  It’s this weird mini-food phenomenon, and I’m not sure why but it’s true.  It’s like a little package of love.   And that’s what these taste like, love.  Raspberry and almond, vanilla, and a hint of sweet.

This recipe was new to me, borrowed from La Tartine Gourmand, but I always know cake will be good if the batter is good.  I stood in the kitchen shamelessly licking the bowl and then the spoon and then I think I even wiped up a spill on the counter with my finger and licked that too.  The end product was even better.

Taste the love!

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter + more for molds
2 eggs
1/3 cup almond meal*
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup rice flour (white or brown)
1/2 cup blond cane sugar
1/3 cup honey-flavored Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Fleur de sel
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    Confectioner’s sugar or granulated sugar to serve

*Almond meal is available in many specialty or health food stores, but can also be made at home by grinding whole almonds in a food processor until finely ground.

Directions:

Preheat your oven at 350 F.
Butter and flour your molds generously.
In a bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs, one after the other, waiting until the first one is well incorporated before adding the second.
Stir in the yogurt and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until homogeneous.
Fill the molds 3/4 full and bake the teacakes for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the blade of a sharp knife inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out dry. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, leaving them to completely cool on a rack.
To serve, dust with confectioner’s sugar.