½ pound (250g) almond meal**

6 large eggs, separated

1 1/4 cups xylitol

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest of 1 lemon

4 drops almond extract

coconut ‘flour’

butter or coconut butter for greasing pan

With clean beaters, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Transfer whites to another large mixing bowl while you use the same beaters and bowl to beat the egg yolks with the sugar to a smooth pale cream. Beat in the zests (or cinnamon) and almond (and vanilla) extract. Add the ground almonds and mix very well.  This will be VERY stiff, so hand mixing toward the end is probably required.

Fold the whites into the egg and almond mixture, a third of the whites at first, to loosen the mixture, then the remaining. Again, do this by hand so you don’t lose the air from the egg whites. Only stir until there are no white spots of egg white left, try not to over mix.

Grease an 11-inch springform pan, preferably nonstick, with butter or coconut butter and dust it with coconut flour. (I also line the bottom of the pan) Pour in the cake batter, and bake into a preheated 350°F (160C) for 40 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch. Let cool before turning out.

Serve with whipped cream or greek yogurt and a few raspberries or strawberries.

Variation

• Instead of the orange and lemon zests, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract to the egg yolk and almond mixture.

• Apparently in Majorca they do a variation that uses only the lemon zest as well as the cinnamon and vanilla extract… all versions still use the almond extract.

**With the ground almonds… you can buy the pre-ground ones in the grocery and they will work, but if you grind your own in the food processor, OR if you can get your hands on the good quality organic, ground ones from a health food store, they will yield a better result.  Either way works, though.

Original recipe modified from The Food of Spain, June 2011, by Claudia Roden