Spinach and almond cake

Photo: Lisa Roukin

This is my adaptation of a wonderful old recipe from Florence’s Jewish community. I add more egg whites than is recommended in the original to make it a little lighter. The cake is extremely versatile as it has both sweet and savoury elements. Great for brunch, or as a savoury side dish or as a dessert served on its own or with strawberries and ice cream.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves 8-10 as a dessert or side dish to a savoury dish.
Ingredients
500g fresh spinach leaves
4 eggs, separated
150g white caster sugar
200g ground blanched almonds
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
Butter/margarine for greasing
Flaked almonds to decorate
Icing sugar (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Wash the spinach and without drying, put it in a deep saucepan on a medium heat.

Cover and leave to steam for 5-7 minutes.

Once the spinach is tender, drain, leave to cool and squeeze out excess water.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until you have a creamy consistency, ideally using a food processor.

Add the ground almonds, nutmeg, salt and squeezed spinach and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they become very stiff.

Slowly fold them into the rest of the mixture.

Take a 22 cm (9 inch) round spring-form baking tin, line it with greaseproof paper and grease lightly with butter/margarine.

Pour the cake mixture into the tray and scatter the top with almond flakes. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin or it may break, then place on a cake plate and sift over some icing sugar to decorate if you like.

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