Recipe: Avocado Lemon & Poppyseed Cake

I’ve recently been on a bit of adventure with our cake flavours at Number Thirteen. Eager to try as many weird and wacky combinations as possible, I started Googling different ideas using vegetables in cake. In the past we have used beetroot, carrot, courgette, pumpkin, parsnip and even butternut squash, but I wanted to find even less-conventional additions.

I found a variation of this recipe on Tesco’s website, would you believe it. It’s great because it’s gluten-free and dairy-free, as there is no flour (only ground almonds) and the avocado replaces the ‘fat’ element. As avocados can be tricky little blighters to get ripe, I have found the easiest solution is to use frozen sliced avocado. You can get it in the freezer section of most large supermarkets (near the smoothie mixes and frozen fruit) and it's also a lot cheaper than using fresh avocados. Just remember to defrost it before blitzing.

I have also played about with the recipe since the first cake. In one instance, I omitted the poppyseeds and added 150g of fresh blueberries, just plopping them on top of the mixture prior to going in the oven. I have also baked them as small individual cakes, rather than a tray cake or round cake, and baking for about 20-25 minutes rather than 35-40.

Ingredients:

  • 450g ripe avocado flesh

  • 6 medium eggs, beaten

  • 450g caster sugar

  • 3 lemons, zested and juiced

  • 450g ground almonds

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds, plus 1 tsp to decorate 

For the icing:

  • 200g dairy-free baking block/butter, softened

  • 500g icing sugar

  • 2 tbsp almond milk

  • 2 lemons, zested and juiced

 Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C and grease and line 2 x 23cm cake tins with nonstick baking paper, or a 20x30cm traybake tin.

  2. Blitz the avocado flesh and eggs in a food processor until you have a thick green paste.         Add the sugar and lemon juice and blend until combined.

  3. In a separate bowl, combine the ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Add the avocado mixture to the bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed.

  4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins, level out, and bake for 35-40 mins until the cakes are just firm to the touch. You can also use a skewer to check that the sponges are cooked, when the skewer come out clean from the cakes.

  5. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely in the tins on a rack.

  6. While the cakes are cooling, you can make the icing. Beat the butter in a bowl to soften, and add the icing sugar gradually, beating to combine. Add the lemon juice, half the zest and almond milk and combine. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

  7. Use a palette knife to spread the buttercream as desired. Decorate with the remaining poppy seeds and remaining lemon zest. The cake will keep, covered, in a sealed container in the fridge, for up to a week, but take out of the fridge one hour before serving for tastiest results.

Sarah Ward