A Mexican dish that I first tried via a friend's Mexican boyfriend when I was living in Spain. I was totally shocked when I was told what it was made from. My Spanish at the time wasn't so good, so I thought "...surely that wasn't garbanzos? I must have misheard..."
Lo and behold, after some convincing, it was indeed proven to be a tasty cake made from those little beans usually reserved in most peoples' minds for hummus.
This is a wonderfully moist cake without being too rich, which can so often be the case when using ground almonds instead of flour. Many of the recipes around result in a quite dense cake, quite unlike the one I tried a few years ago. However, the one below uses beaten egg whites, which puts a lot of air in the cake batter, so the result is almost akin to an angel food cake.
Ingredients
270g / 9.5oz cooked, drained chick peas (this, conveniently is one standard supermarket can)
3 large eggs, separated
120g / 4oz caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
grated zest of an orange
juice of an orange
icing sugar to decorate
Method
- Preheat your oven to 170 C / 350 F. Grease the bottom of a bundt pan, a pan which is doughnut-shaped so that the cake will have a hole in the middle. They tend to be a bit deeper and allow the cake to rise nicely.
- Puree the chickpeas in a food processor, then add the egg yolks, sugar, baking powder and orange zest and pulse to mix.
- In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they're stiff.
- Gently fold the chickpea mix into the egg whites. Be careful not to be violent and knock out too much air! This is what makes the cake so light.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put into the oven for around 55 minutes, or until a cake tester (or knife!) comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool, then remove it from the tin and sprinkle with orange juice. I used a silicone pastry brush to apply the juice to mine, which worked well, allowing the orange to sink in. Be aware that you may not need to use all the juice from one orange - it depends on how 'wet' and how tangy you want your cake to be.
- Dust with icing sugar.
Easy and tasty and gluten free too!
This recipe would work equally well with a lemon substituted for the orange. I'd also recommend rosewater, for a more subtle hint of flavour.
Enjoy! Buen Provecho!
No comments:
Post a Comment