Gluten Free Plum & Almond Slice

I’m not one for using gluten free flours, my experience of them in cakes, breads and cookies is not that great so I tend to substitute ground nuts for the flour when making anything gluten free. Since I’m not gluten intolerant I haven’t really experimented with theses different flours so when a gluten and dairy free friend came to visit last week I stuck to what I know best and made a plum and almond slice. I used a basic Victoria sandwich cake base but increased the almond content to compensate for the lack of gluten that binds the mixture. I also substituted the butter for an olive oil spread which is like a margarine to make it dairy free also.

The result is a dense cake slice which holds well in the fridge and we found it to taste even better the next day, although there wasn’t too much if it left. The sweet almond cake against the tart plum is a perfect combination and would work well with apricots too, other stone fruit tend to be too large for decorating the cake.

Ingredients
125g butter or Olivani (olive oil spread)
125g sugar
200g ground almonds ( or 150g ground an 50g course ground for texture)
2 eggs
6-8 plums
30g sliced almonds
1tsp cinnamon
Corn flour to dust tin

Method
Pre heat oven 180C.
Oil and corn flour a 22cm loose bottom tart tin.
Place butter & sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk or good old fashioned wooded spoon until light and fluffy.
Add one egg at a time and whisk in between both additions.
Fold in the grounds almonds with a metal spoon so not to loose all the air that has been beaten in.
Spoon mixture into prepared cake tin and evenly.
Cut plums in half and remove stones.
Press plums into the cake mix and sprinkle sliced almonds over the top. Dust plums with the cinnamon.
Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes until golden and firm like cake. The cake will rise but shrink slightly when cooled.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.
Serve as is or with some yoghurt, ice cream or whipped cream