Savoury Cake - braised vegetables with a savoury almond cake topping
I love this. It’s a great way to use up leftover cream. And it works great as a starter or a light lunch. It’s one of my favourite vegetarian dishes on twimii.
When I first made this I was trying a dairy-free diet. I used soya milk rather than cream and it worked really well. So if you want to make a version of this that is lower in fat soya milk is an option.
The braised vegetables in the cake can be whatever vegetables you have to hand. The recipe below uses mushrooms, tomatoes and courgette, with garlic and herbs. But you could try using whichever vegetables you fancy, just make sure they have complementary but contrasting tastes. I saw a lovely recipe for braised vegetables recently and I think I may try this as a base for a savoury cake. But try mushroom, tomato and courgette first. It works and is delicious.
Savoury Cake
Yield: Makes 9″ cake
Suitable for: Gluten-free diet
Ingredients:
- 4 large mushrooms, chopped
- 3 - 4 tomatoes, quartered
- 1 courgette, sliced
- 1 - 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- basil leaves
- 1 small onion, peeled & grated
- 150g ground almonds
- 100ml single cream
- 2 large eggs
- nutmeg
- seasoned salt, optional
- butter
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
Quickly fry vegetables for the cake filling
Grease a cake tin or oven dish with a little butter. Turn the oven on to 160° C. Heat some oil in a frying pan. Add a pat of butter. Add the mushroom, half the garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir around on a high heat for minute, then reduce the heat to moderate and cover the pan. After 2 - 3 minutes add the courgette slices, stir around well and cover the pan again for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir around well, Add the rest of the garlic, stir around well and cover the pan for another 5 minutes. Break up the tomatoes and taste mix to see if it needs more salt. Stir in the basil leaves and remove from the heat. Place the fried vegetables in the greased tin.Make the savoury cake batter
Beat the eggs with the seasoned salt, or salt and freshly ground black pepper, until well blended. Whip in the cream and a good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Stir in ground almonds and onion. Mix until everything is well combined. Spread over the vegetables in the tin.Bake & serve hot or cold
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. After baking, let it rest for 15 minutes on the counter. This cake can be enjoyed warm or cold, but not chilled. If you chill it in the fridge, heat it up for 15 - 20 seconds in the microwave before serving.
Enjoy!
