Like madeira cake, this vegan ground rice cake is a plain cake that’s anything but plain. It has an unusually soft texture, a light, crisp crust, and a rich, creamy flavour.
Ground rice isn’t always easy to find in supermarkets, although it used to be a really common pudding ingredient in the UK, alongside those other (loved and loathed) school dinner classics: semolina, tapioca and sago. Because of its fine, gritty texture, it often features in shortbread. In this recipe it creates a light graininess, a bit like polenta although this is much softer than a polenta cake.
One of the main ingredients is apple, which you wouldn’t necessarily guess from the flavour. Combined with vanilla, almonds and the mild creaminess of the rice, it creates a flavour that’s reminiscent of old fashioned puddings but hard to pin down to any one thing.
This is an adaptable cake that would work well as a dessert cake with raspberries, blueberries or maybe some more chopped apple stirred through at the last minute.
The one thing to watch is the baking time – the cake will be a deep golden colour before it is fully baked through, so don’t risk taking it out on the early side, and if you are adding fruit, bake it for a bit longer still.
vegan ground rice cake…
ingredients
- 150 g apple (cored weight; cooking apples are good but any will do)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- up to 1/8 tsp almond extract (a few drops)
- 110 g vegan soft margarine
- 130 g caster sugar plus 1 dessert spoonful for sprinkling
- 180 g white/unbleached self-raising flour
- 60 g ground rice
- 60 g ground almonds
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and lightly oil/line the base of a 7 or 8″ baking tin (the pictured cake was baked in an 8″ tin).
- Slice the cored apple (you can leave the skin on) and place in a small saucepan with the maple syrup. Bring to the boil and allow it to simmer gently for five minutes with the lid on the pan.
- Remove the apple from the heat and allow it to cool before adding the vanilla and almond extracts and pureeing in a small blender or with a stick blender. (It can still be a bit warm but not so warm that it will liquefy the margarine.)
- In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar, ideally with an electric hand mixer, until light and fluffy.
- Add the apple puree mixture gradually and continue beating. It may separate a bit but that won’t be a problem.
- Measure the flour, ground rice, ground almonds and baking powder into a separate bowl and whisk well to ensure everything is evenly combined before folding and stirring the dry ingredients into the apple mixture, gently, until fully combined. It should be around dropping consistency. Add a spoonful of water if it feels too thick.
- Transfer the mixture to the tin – the cake will rise but retain its surface pattern so either make it even, or create a swirly pattern that will look intentional.
- Sprinkle a dessert spoonful of caster sugar across the top before baking for 35 to 45 minutes. If you think it is becoming too dark on top, you could place a disk of baking paper on top for the last five minutes. Test the cake with a skewer to ensure it is cooked through.
- Allow to cool completely before turning out and cutting. It’s perfectly good on day two or three but the crust is best on day one.
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