Almond Pulp Cake

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Inspired by a traditional Spanish dessert, this cake is made with the pulp that remains after making almond milk

You’ve made almond milk and now you are looking for recipes to use up the remaining almond pulp?
You really have to try this almond cake: the taste is incredible, it only needs 4 ingredients and you can whip up the batter in less than 10 minutes!
Also, it’s very easy to make it keto (and it’s gluten-free).
It seldom gets so easy as this when it comes to baking!

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The inspiration for this almond cake

This recipe is heavenly inspired in “Tarta de Santiago” (translated as “cake of James”).
Tarta de Santiago is a traditional almond cake from Galicia, a region in northwest Spain famous its traditional cuisine.
The cake is named after Saint James the Great, who is the patron saint of Galicia.
Also, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela City is the end point of the pilgrimage routes of “Camino de Santiago” or “the way of Santiago” (which is quite famous among pilgrims and hikers).

This cake is made from ground almonds, eggs, sugar and lemon zest.
The top is typically dusted with confectioners’ sugar and an imprint of a cross to symbolize Saint James’s cross.

Differences between the original Tarta de Santiago and this recipe

I love how Tarta de Santiago tastes as is.
But for this recipe I was looking for an easy way to use the pulp remaining after draining almond milk instead of a true version of Tarta de Santiago, so I made these swaps:

• Tarta de Santiago uses blanched almond flour – the pulp I use comes from unpeeled almonds, so my cake has a more rustic look
• Since the original recipe is too sweet for my taste, I reduced the amount of sweetener and skipped the powdered sugar decoration (which is nowadays is a must for any Tarta de Santiago in Spain)
• Also, I switched the sugar for a combination of xylitol/erythritol (but you can also make it with regular sugar; both taste great)

If you are curious about a more traditional recipe to make Tarta De Santiago, I recommend this one and this one.

How to make simple almond cake with almond pulp

Making this almond cake is incredibly easy: you’ll only need 4 ingredients (and no fancy equipment!).

Tricks

This is one of these uncomplicated recipes that don’t need you to be super meticulous. Still, here are some tips that may help you make this almond cake:

• Don’t worry too much about the size of your almond pulp
  Originally, Tarta de Santiago calls for two types of almond flour: the half should be almond flour that is finely ground and the other half can have a more coarse grind (like almond meal, only from peeled almonds).
  This way, you can get a cake that tastes light while also having occasionally some small almond pieces.
  When using almond pulp (as we’re doing in this recipe), this means, it’s okay if your pulp has some small almond pieces.
• Almond pulp that isn’t super squeezed/dry also works great
  Many recipes that use almond pulp ask you to make the biggest effort to squeeze them.
  While I also try to squeeze them as much as possible (you get more milk), in my experience this cake also turn out good even if the almond pulp isn’t the driest.
• You can frozen almond pulp
  I make this cake using almond pulp from 2 batches milk.
  Since almond pulp don’t has such a long shelf life, I freeze it.
  Then, before making the cake, I thaw it by letting it in the fridge overnight (or on the kitchen top if the room temperature isn’t as high).
• Make your cake thin
  Since there is no baking powder in this cake, it doesn’t inflate.
  So, it’s easier to get it baked properly if it’s not so thick (traditional Tarta de Santiago is usually quite flat).

How to make this almond cake keto-friendly

I like keto recipes because they avoid refined sugars, but I don’t actually follow a strict keto diet, so I don’t usually count net carbs.
However, since a reader reached out about this topic, I did some research about the net carbs of this recipe.

In the recipe I wrote down “xylitol” as sweetener because I think it’s quite easy to find nowadays.
Now, 100 gr. xylitol contains 100 gr. carbs, which is a lot if you are on keto.
However, according to some keto and health experts, not all these should count as net carbs, since they are sugar alcohols (they don’t spike blood sugar).
For example, according to Sure keto you could count 3 gr. net carbs per 10 gr.; Paleo foundation counts 4 gr. net carbs per 10 gr.

Following these calculations, I came to the result that that this recipe (as it’s written) approximately has a total of 82-92 gr. net carbs (10 to 11.5 gr. net carbs per serving).

If you still prefer reducing the carbs:

1. Erythritol might be a better alternative:
   Erythritol is considered to have less net carbs than xylitol and works great for this recipe.
   In addition, it isn’t toxic for pets (xylitol is!).
2. Consider trying your preferred keto-friendly sweetener:
   I’ve also made this cake using a keto sweetener called Truvia (that contains stevia and erythritol) and it also worked.
   I personally didn’t like the result as much as when using xylitol/erythritol because this brand in particular doesn’t taste as neutral.
   It has a agreeable caramel aroma, but for this recipe I just prefer a neutral sweetener.
   Also, since it needs less amount of powder, the eggs separated a little bit.
   But the cake still tasted good.
   So, I think most keto friendly sweeteners could work.

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