Yesterday, I made an Almond Cake with three ingredients. Except it’s more like an Almond Torte. Or a Flat Sweet Almondy Thing That I Might’ve Accidentally Underbaked But Is Kinda Tasty Awesome Anyway. (Also, it is gluten-free, dairy-free, and processed-sugar-free.)
Call it what you will; the point is that this recipe uses only three ingredients (with optional extras), takes minimal time to prep, and is easily eaten within the space of 24 hours. Which all translates into a recipe I feel I must share with you.
To commemorate the three-ness of the cake, I thought I’d jot down a few other three-ness-es that come to mind.
You with me?
Three books I’ve loved in the past three years:
- The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
- Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Delusions of Gender, by Cordelia Fine
Three songs I’ve belted out this week as if my life depended on it:
- Tin Man, by America. (But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man / That he didn’t, didn’t already have)
- Part Of Your World, from The Little Mermaid. (Legs are required for jumpin’, dancin’)
- Prologue, from Into The Woods (Rooting through my rutabaga / raiding my arugula and / ripping up the rampion…)
Three things I said today:
- Who’s a good girl? You’re a good girl! Yes you are! Yes you are! Who’s a good girl?
- Stupid poo-bum head.
- Jockeys are really, really, really, tremendously strange-looking.
The three figures I said the above to:
- My dog.
- Myself, upon spilling coffee grounds on my skirt.
- My brother, on the occasion of having just watched some Melbourne Cup coverage.
Three things I ate today:
- The below magical flourless three ingredient almond cake.
- Peas.
- The below magical flourless three ingredient almond cake.
Magical Flourless Three Ingredient Almond Maple Cake
Makes 6-8 little squares. Adapted from Anja’s Food 4 Thought
- 1 1/4 cup (120g) almond meal
- 1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
- 3 egg whites
- pinch salt (optional)
- 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- Preheat oven to 180°C (360°). Now here’s where I get a bit vague: the original recipe said to grease and line a wide loaf tin, but I neither know what that is (exactly) nor have one. So I kinda greased and lined a 20cm (8 inch) square tin, and when the time came plopped the mixture into it. The mixture took up about 3/4 of the tin, and spread out as it baked. So, my advice for the optimum baking receptacle for this cake? Um… I have no idea. Don’t you just love me sometimes? I’m just so helpful.
- In a medium or large bowl, mix together the almond meal, maple syrup, and the cinnamon (if using).
- In a separate bowl, using electric beaters unless you’re a crazy person, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.
- Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the almond paste to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Tip this mixture into your ambiguous tin, then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top and cooked through. I baked mine for 20 minutes and it was quite soft inside, so 25 minutes might be better. But you know what? Once again, just do whatever floats your boat. And once again? Me = helpful. I know. It’s amazing.
Question Time: What are three interesting things you said, or experienced, today?
{ 58 comments… read them below or add one }
Cinnamon and easy? I’m in!
You shoulda come over for a slice!
1. I voted
2. You just reminded me how much I love the book “everything is illuminated”
3. I got really excited because I won a giveaway on another blog!
Sounds like a pretty awesome day to me!! Hope you post what you won on your blog!
Three ingredients? It couldn’t get any easier. Although admittedly I did think you had tricked us when you listed five. lol.
And yes, the extraordinary proportions of jockeys have always intrigued me too.
No tricksiness, I promise! I said at the beginning there were “optional extras”
It’s not only their proportions… why are their voices all so odd too?!
Wow those look delicious!! And I’ve never heard of your favorite recent books… I’m such a lit nerd, I’m going to have to look those up!
The first two have been out for ages, so you should be able to find them easily! I really recommend The Book Thief – it’s by an Australian author, and while some people think it’s contrived, I think it’s beautifully-written and moving
Three thoughts I’ve had today about pants (in the American sense):
1. My checkered work pants are vastly superior to my other work pants.
2. My new favorite jeans might get demoted because they’ve stretched, which makes me sad.
3. I love wearing pants that feel like pajamas.
*laughs* I love your out-of-the-blue topic choice. Brilliant! I wish I had checkered work pants… and amen to #3
1. Rain in the rain – for an hour and a half
2. Watched my work colleagues have a ‘horse race’ down the coridoor!
3. Ate icecream – for what better way to end the day!
Gosh, do you mean you ran in the rain?! Crazy lady!
And wow, it’s amazing what a little alcohol will do in the workplace… 
What sort of witchcraft is this – only three ingredients?? I can’t believe it resulted in a cake, and a delicious one at that!
I’m lucky we’re not living a few centuries ago – I would’ve been burnt at the stake!
I’ll do this for yesterday, seeing as that’s when you posted it, and because I’ve done..uhh.. not very much so far today..haha
1) Took part in a Melbourne Cup ‘people-race’, in the bushland around work. Horribly muddy and slippery and steep and rocky, but good fun. I beat my estimated time, and beat a very particular co-worker who I’m not hugely fond of, so I was pretty stoked hahaha.
2) Felt very happy to finally feel like I have work friends. I was telling them I’d been craving a Macca’s Happy Meal, so we’ve organised a lunchtime road trip to the drive thru on Friday. hahah silly, but it’s nice when you get to that point with colleagues where you can actually arrange to spend time together outside mandatory work hours.
3) Came home, had a bath, ate a great dinner of some of my favourite things (Silo bread, an assortment of pickles, cheeses, brocolli and bacon), followed by a delightful ice cream sundae (Serendipity hokey pokey ice cream, Reese’s chocolate topping, candy corn, crushed up pretzels, and a liberal sprinkling of sea salt!), then read Harry Potter in bed. Perfect evening at home
1. But of course you won! You’re the Masterful Marathon Lady! Super pleased you beat you evil colleague, though
2. Oh Lizzi. Only you would round people up to go to McDonalds.
3. Want EVERYTHING. Reese’s chocolate topping? Where from, where from?! And is it any good?
I love how the magical three ingredients cake counts as two point on your list of things eaten today. Some how this doesnt fit in with my way of life, I’d only count it as one, that way I’d get less calories in me….dont ask how…just accept it!
Oh, that sounds not only perfectly logical but entirely scientific to me!
I love the number 3! This cakes looks magical indeed. I love that you also ate some peas.
1. Spent 1 hour on the phone to some referrals – what is interesting is that I didn’t go insane during said hour.
2. I cannot actually decide what to have for lunch – this never happens to me
3. my man is insisting we go to yoga tonight – random, love it!
Heidi xo
Oooh, what did you end up choosing for lunch? Somehow I always end up with chocolate in my hand when I get perplexed by meal choices
And what a wonderful husband! Though I’d be happy with, well, *any* man, not necessarily one who loves yoga 
Oh my god, I was in love with this from the first pic. And it’s SO almost-raw-vegan…just those pesky egg whites!
But you know what? After our experimentation with Irish moss this week in that garlic bread (which, “flour”-wise, is also predominantly almond meal) makes me think that it could work in this. If only 105 let us use the kitchen to experiment on our own stuff! >:-O
Oh, it would be awesome if you could come up with a vegan version of this! Want to know my moment of stupidity? I swapped the honey for maple syrup “to make it vegan”. And then remembered the egg whites. *sigh*
You can’t use the 105 kitchen to experiment? Boo!!
Hehe! Well, I don’t care at all about honey, and not too much about egg whites, BUT I don’t see myself buying a carton of eggs when I get back just for 3 of the whites. No, we can’t use the 105 kitchen for personal use :/ Which I understand, but still, if only!
To be honest, I wouldn’t have made this either but for the fact that I’m house-sitting at my parents and there are a heap of eggs in their fridge to use up! Free food = good food…
I do understand the 105 barred-kitchen thing too. I mean, if that wasn’t the rule, I bet they’d find you one morning asleep on the counter after having spent all night creating raw vegan white chocolate
Haha, they SO would!
1. Spent an hour on the phone to tech support…, but we won… by gad we won.
2. Washed my hair & have now straightened it.
3. All dressed up and ready to hit the shops
Jockies!! Very weird looking people indeed
You’re the second person to have talked about horrible hour-long admin phone calls! Well done you for winning! Oooh, I want to get my hair straightened again…
(Should we feel bad about the jockey comments?
)
Ooo, Everything Is Illuminated and Part Of Your World!!!! Love it! Have you read his other book with the name I can’t remember (not Eating Animals but his second fiction work)?
Anyway, 3 things…hmmmm. Since most of today has been at work, how about the 3 most interesting things to happen at work today?
1. My boss asked me to get some music off his iPod and it crashed my computer which caused me to lose some other data that I had been working on but hadn’t saved in the last 5 minutes (and you can do a lot in 5 minutes damn it).
2. Some girl tried to sell us strawberries but my boss shut the door in her face.
3. My boss called me a sinner. Excellent!
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? Absolutely! I was tossing up which one to list in this post
In fact, I talked about ELaIC in a 5000-word English research essay on 9/11 fiction in 2007 
1. Holy moly! Your boss’ personal interests crashed your actual work-work?! Wow…
2. Well, strawberries are evil?!
3. Seriously, who IS your boss? *refrains from non-pc comments*
Ooo, cool! I love his writing. I should read the other books you mention on your list too. Your taste seems good
1. Hmmm, it’s kind of typical really. I’ve done some very strange things at work for him that have nothing to do with, well, work. It was only a matter of time before it impacted on my “real” work.
2. Earlier in the day we had a lady come in selling cookies. He enjoyed that. But this poor little girl selling strawberries, oh dear. I could just imagine her on the other side of the door crying because of the mean man who slammed the door in her face.
3. Hahaha! He is quite a character. That’s all I can say (but you may have worked that one out already).
Back atcha lady! I think we both have the best taste in books
1. You do realise how suspicious that sounds, don’t you?
2. Ah well. I guess she needed to learn that the world isn’t always a nice place.
3. From comments here and there on this blog and your own… yes, I think I worked that out!
1. Oh of course! It’s way more entertaining that way!
2. I saw this great quote on the back of one of those Wicked Campers: Life is Dangerous. It will kill you eventually. My mother does tend to tell me that every time I see her too (I think she’d prefer I stayed inside in the safety of my room).
3. It only takes about 30 seconds of meeting him to see. That’s about as long as his attention span is anyway. You should see his meetings with his accountant…it’s classic!
Well, to be fair, you do gallivant about on these crazy adventures of yours, Young Lady. Your mother does have a slight jutification in worrying
Three thoughts upon reading this post:
1. I want to read the book thief – in fact I just want more time to read
2. more chocolate in the cake would be excellent – it would go so well with all that maple syrup and almonds
3. jockeys not only look strange but sound strange and never so strange as when they have a French accent
1. I promise that while The Book Thief looks long, it’s actually a really quick, easy read. You should definitely try to squeeze it in
2. Even as someone who doesn’t go for chocolate cake… you’re so right. Some chocolate chips would be divine!
3. YES! I just said that in my comment to Helen. They sound so strange!!
1. I took photos of a “virgin’s breast” then cut a bit off and ate it. Not a fan.
2. I listened to a podcast containing the phrase “I could eat a knob at night” and a dance track remix featuring the lyrics “I could eat a knob at night”.
3. My participant threw up. But I was prepared and had an airline sickness bag, medical latex gloves, and a biohazard disposal bag to go in the clinical waste bin for incineration.
All trufax.
Ok now I’ve gone back and read other people’s comments, I feel like my life is somewhat more insane and bizarre than average…
But that’s what we love about you! However, does this mean the virgin’s breasts blog post is delayed! Oh no! I was looking forward to that one
Also, you research is clearly more interesting than mine will ever be. Though I doubt I could get ‘making my participants vomit’ through Ethics.
Ethics have been very kind to us, actually! We originally went a bit overkill with the application, saying we’ll always have a doctor present during testing in case of adverse side-effects… but the drugs I test are ones that people with ADHD or depression will be prescribed by a doctor, they’ll go pick them up at the pharmacy, and they’ll take them for the first time at home. No direct doctor supervision. Doing the study with direct supervision was really holding me back because the doctor I work with was only available one day a week to start with and then his hospital said he could only spend one day a fortnight working with me.
So I lodged an ethics amendment about how people take these drugs unsupervised all the time, and only minor side effects are expected (like nausea – we’re not expecting anaphylactic shock or something), and Ethics very kindly granted the amendment (I should have lodged it a year ago, sigh). Although the doctor was in today so I made him earn his keep by getting him to comfort the vomiting guy. I was still the one who dealt with the vomit bag though…
Virgin’s breasts post is coming, fear not. It’s not the next one but the one after, probably. Although I think I’m going to give them a new name, because they’re nice enough things (without the egg white coating) but the morbid religious tale behind them is creepy and depressing. So I’m going to rename them something innocent and cheerful like Igloo Cakes.
And when I see the Igloo Cakes, I’ll get to have a secret giggle about knowing the *true* story behind the icy domes of wonderment
Wow. Can your ethics people come talk to our ethics people? I haven’t had to go through it yet but my friend is having the most horrendous time with them. All she’s doing is going to sports clubs and watching how people use the social space, and ethics are making her jump through hoops because this is “deception”. Even though it’s a public space with CCTV cameras everywhere, and people know they’re in public, surrounded by people. Anyhoo, it’s pretty much making me want to structure my research around never, ever having to interact with Actual People… *sigh*
‘Who’s a good girl? You’re a good girl! Yes you are! Yes you are! Who’s a good girl?
Stupid poo-bum head’ are the two sentences I say every single day.
Love this recipe even though …..sssh don’t tell anybody….there’s no chocolate in it!
I’m trying to think of a way to connect those sentences to being chocolate bloggers… but I don’t think I want to go there
And it’ll be our little secret!
1. “Yaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!”
2. Opened a large bottle of soda water after arriving back at my desk after purchasing said bottle, having walked through the 37 degree day to do so, and finding myself quite thirsty thought I’d reward myself with a drink only to completely saturate myself and everything on my desk with an almighty spray of carbonated water.
3. Wish there was someone else in my office at the time to witness this.
This is such a bald-faced lied. You peed yourself, didn’t you?
(Yes. I am, at this moment, ten years old. I fully admit to that.)
LOL so who did you say that second thing to (about stupid poo bum head)
And yes I don’t really see the attraction with jockeys. And they all kind of have a similar look!
Myself!
I’m not the most suave creature on this planet, you see. Oh, jockeys. The strangest thing is I don’t think they exist outside of horse racing. I firmly believe that once the horses cross the line and everyone goes home for the day, the jockeys go *pouf* and disappear in a cloud of smoke.
Wow — this is really upsetting, but I don’t think I’ve even said three things outloud today. I left for work at 6:42 a.m. for work. Pushed into crowded metro. Got to work at 8:50. Sat in my cubicle, which is located in my office’s equivalent of Siberia. Now it is 11:15 a.m., and I haven’t had to talk to a soul.
Actually, I may have said three things, but only to cats.
1. “Look at how cute you are!”
2. “Do you want to eat? Here, let me lift you.”
3. “Bye kitties! See you in the afternoon!”
Aw man. Better talk to a co-worker soon.
I don’t know…. I think pets are better than people sometimes anyway
And don’t worry, I’ve had a very similar week in terms of not talking to people! Have been under the weather and moping at home rather than going into uni. Heavens, I think I’m the worst PhD student in the history of ever.
P.S. How are you?!
My husband can’t have almonds or egg whites, but I am going to figure out how to make a version of this very soon!
Hmm… maybe ground pecans or hazelnut mixed with maple syrup and flaxmeal + water, then baked into cookies? (I think I want to make that now too
)
You ate PEAS?! You should’ve saved the stomach space (and your tastebuds) and filled it with more almond maple cake instead!
Agnes! My mum will open a can of whoop-ass on you if she hears you’ve been encouraging me to cut out even more healthful foods from my diet. (Except I don’t think my mum even known where to procure a can of whoop-ass, let alone open it.)
Would you believe I ate raw cabbage on this day as well? Craziness.
Oh I love cabbage. I like it raw too. But peas, peas I cannot abide.
P.S. I never used to eat peas either. But then I moved out, started my PhD, realised how poor I was, and discovered that Coles Homebrand Peas are $1.99 a kilo. Thus…. staple.
Love it! This post, that is. Big fan of Into the Woods. It’s one of my all time fave musicals. Stephen Sondheim is a musical genius, for sure. Also love the look of the 3-ingredient cake! Going to have to give it a whirl.
Thanks for your kind and encouraging comment on my last blog post xxx
Love love LOVE finding another Into the Woods/Sondheim fan! I love how he’s so brilliant with music and with words. Do you know Assassins? Sometimes I think I love it more than Into The Woods! Let me know what you think if you try this! And please, no thanks necessary – though I’m happy to think I might have provided some small comfort
I have no idea how I missed this post (to be fair, you are prolific) that cake sounds amahzing! And so does your parents’ pantry
and your dog is adorable.
It’s called procrastiblogging, and it’s why my PhD is so non-existent
I think you’d like this cake, even though it doesn’t have any butter 
{ 3 trackbacks }