Strawberry Almond Mini Cakes

fireworks at Sharbot Lake beach

Happy Canada Day! Here’s an easy and delicious little cake that takes advantage of fresh strawberries.

These come together quickly and easily. They are more dense than a traditional muffin, made with ground almonds, egg whites and a bit of flour. The addition of freshly crushed seasonal stawberries makes this a great recipe. Give them a try while the berries are in – you can keep them simple or fancy them up with some whipped cream and extra berries on the side. The recipe is from Anna Olsen and we all know what a great (Canadian) baker she is.

Strawberry Almond Mini Cakes

from Anna Olsen on http://www.marilyn.ca

makes 12 regular muffin size mini cakes

Ingredients:

2/3 cup roughly crushed fresh strawberries

6 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted, plus more for dusting

1 1/4 cups ground almonds (also known as almond flour)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extact (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F, and grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Set aside

Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. In a separate bowl stir together the almond flour, flour, icing sugar and salt and stir this into the egg whites in 2 additions. Add the melted butter, strawberries, vanilla and almond extract and whisk until well blended.

Spoon batter into prepared tin. The batter will come almost to the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned and tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes then turn them out to cool completely.

Dust with icing sugar, serve and enjoy.

*keep refrigerated if not eating them right away – the fruit makes them quite moist…but serve them at room temperature.