Arabian Saffron Tea Cakes
You know how it goes. You are on the hook to provide some nosh and the ingredient question comes up. Is it vegan? Gluten-free? How about the sugar content? These questions are always there when I cook for a large and diverse group, and it is always Concern One when I am baking.
Baking is science. The sugar may be more than a sweetener, and those eggs are doing so many Things and you replace them at your peril. But, with a little know-how and the right recipe, you can have your vegan and gluten free cake, and eat it, too!
Arabian Saffron Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 4 TBSP 61.25 g Non-Dairy Yogurt
- 2 TBSP Melted butter Substitute
- 2 TBSP Oil
- 6 TBSP Sugar Lakanto
- 6 TBSP 75 g Milk (Almond)
- 15 TBSP 120 g All-Purpose GF Flour
- 1 TBSP Corn meal
- ¼ TSP Saffron Strands
- 1 TSP Ground Cardamom
- ¼ TSP Baking Soda
- 1 TSP Baking Powder
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350º. Combine milk, saffron, and cardamon. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, and oil until sugar dissolves; add milk mixture and combine thoroughly.
-
In a small bowl, sift dry ingredients together, then add at once to the wet ingredients and whisk gently to combine.
-
Grease an 8 or 9 inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Add batter and smooth out. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
-
Turn out on a wire rack and cool.
Recipe Notes
Vegan Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 stick Butter Substitute
1 C Powdered Sugar
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
Almond Milk
Using a mixer, combine all ingredients but almond milk. Add a splash of almond milk to smooth it out. Adjust to taste, if needed, by adding more sugar, vanilla, or almond milk.
Sesame-Almond Crunch:
1 cup Slivered Almonds
3 TBSP Sesame Seeds
1-2 TBSP Honey or Maple Syrup
Pinch Sea Salt
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium low heat, and add almonds. Move frequently until heated (2-3 minutes), then add sesame seeds and continue to toast (1-2 minutes). Add honey and salt, stir to melt honey and glaze almonds and seeds. Allow to caramelize, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and break up.
Frosting the Cake:
Apply frosting to the cake when completely cooled, crumble the nut crunch and sprinkle on frosting.
OR
Cut the cake into bite size pieces and add a small dollop of frosting to each, then add a small piece of nut crunch. Serve as finger food.
Parchment Paper:
To cut a circle for your pie pan, think of it like cutting a paper snowflake. Cut a parchment paper square big enough to cover the full width of the pan, then fold in half, then in smaller and smaller triangles. When it is as small as you can reasonably manage, put the tip over the center of the pan and snip the end off at the edge of the pan. Open and find an appropriately sized circle and place in your greased pan.
Adapted from Munaty Cooking
The recipe was intended to be an eggless version of a popular Arabian cake. Reading the recipe told me I could give it a Boulangerie once-over and expect success. I do not think it rose as much as the original, and I would recommend doubling the recipe and making it into a layer cake, with frosting between the layers, and the frosting and nut crunch on top.
I think the cake is quite good, but I had no way to adhere the almond and sesame topping to the cake and I felt it really needed frosting. So, I pondered and realized that vegan buttercream would be easy and appropriate.
And, oh! So tasty! I am being very disciplined here, or there would be no cake for tomorrow.
Finally, I learned about cutting parchment paper from Alton Brown, my cooking guru, and you can find his trick explained in full here. Be sure you are using parchment paper and not waxed paper! Waxed paper cannot handle the heat, whereas parchment paper is impregnated with silicone and can handle anything your oven can put out!