Almond Cake

3 cups almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
6oz container of vanilla cultured coconut milk ("yogurt")
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sliced honey roasted almonds

1) Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine almond meal, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2) In a separate bowl, mix eggs and sugar together using a hand blender on medium speed until creamy consistency is achieved. Thoroughly combine applesauce, cultured coconut milk and vanilla with the egg mixture. Add to almond meal and mix to create batter.
3) Lightly spray a 9" round cake pan (or springform pan) with baking spray. Add batter and top with sliced honey roasted almonds. Bake for 30 minutes.

Review: This recipe uses maple sugar, which Trader Joe's used to carry at an affordable price. However, they no longer carry it and Whole Foods sold it for about $16. Eesh. I read online that I could substitute the entire amount with maple syrup, or just add some maple extract to regular sugar. I didn't have maple extract and figured maple syrup wouldn't work in a cake. So, I used 3/8 cup sugar and 1/8 cup maple syrup. My cake sunk in the middle and was moistly dense. I think it would have been more cake-like if I'd just skipped the maple component (not like I tasted it anyway!). This was a big hit with the family. It wasn't very gritty and had a wonderful almond flavor.

Adapted from:
http://www.traderjoes.com/Recipes/recipe/174