¡Torta de Santiago! (¡Gluten-Free, too!)

I have two exciting things to share--first, I've made a delicious, delicious almond cake called Torta de Santiago of which I have created a gluten-free version, and second, I got a beautiful new digital camera for my birthday, so that I can finally share my creations with you. (My birthday isn't until this Thursday, but Pierre couldn't wait to give me my gift until then!)

Torta de Santiago is of Spanish origin (er, as the name might suggest), and it's ridiculously simple to make. The recipe I used is from Daisy Martinez's Daisy Cooks! (A side note: every recipe I've tried from this book has turned out wonderfully.) The torta recipe can be found here. In place of the 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, substitute 1/4 cup of your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour mix. I used Rebecca Reilly's gluten-free mix, of which I have a large batch in the refrigerator. To the flour mixture, add 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (our dear friend in gluten-free baking). And that's it! Just follow the rest of the recipe as is, dust with powdered sugar when cool, and voila:

As you can see, it's actually quite a thin cake, and the recipe makes two of these beauties. The first time I made it, I mistakenly halved the recipe. Pierre and I ate the thing up in no time and were very sad there wasn't more. I wasn't going to make that mistake again.

Here's how it looks when you cut into it. I added a dollop of Ben & Jerry's on the side.

It's super moist, not too sweet, and has a lovely almond flavor, thanks to the almond extract and almond meal. Plus, you get a little hit of lemon from the lemon zest. It's perfect for dessert and even better for breakfast with coffee. It's an impressive cake, but so easy to complete.

A final tip for gluten-free bakers, I've found that gluten-full recipes that don't require a lot of flour are easily adapted to gluten-free versions.