Gluten-free Potato Almond Cake

This is a fun gluten-free cake made with leftover potatoes. The cake is dreamy soft and moist. While a slice of almond potato cake is delicious on its own, it is traditionally enjoyed with lemon sauce. While the citrus season is the perfect time to play sauces, you can play with other tart flavors all year round.

Since my freezer is full-packed this time of year, no space for extra cake is available. Hence, I baked only half of the cake recipe given below. Small cakes are underappreciated don’t you think? Owning a small pan comes handy not only when trying new recipes out but also when one has too much bread dough. Okay back to cakes…

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History on Potato cakes & Kronan’s Kaka

There are two potato almond cakes that I’m aware of: the Swedish Kronans Kaka (Crown’s Cake) and German versions go under “kartoffel (mandel) torte”. This almond potato cake recipe below is adjusted from a 1930s Finnish cookbook and has its roots in the first category.

The story goes that the original Kronans Kaka recipe was first published in a Swedish cookbook in 1903. However, potato cakes go way back in history, though. The oldest potato cake recipe in a Finnish cookbook is from 1773. I’m sure potato almond cakes have been baked for hundreds of years in the Nordics and Europe.

The recipe I’m sharing today is basically Kronan’s Kaka when it comes to texture. When I compare the ingredients & their ratios across recipes available online, it’s a luxurious version of it.

Cookbooks from the past are sometimes heavy bibles with the smallest font in order to include thousands of recipes. And so instead of having one potato cake recipe, there are several variations to choose from in the 1930s book that I’m using. To stay true to the original recipe, the direct translation of the recipe is just simply “Potato Cake 2” and it is 1284th in order. Modest and straight to the point (very Finnish if you ask me haha).

How about flavors then?

The difference between this version and classic Kronan’s Kaka is a couple of bitter almonds. Traditionally, lemon peel is not added to the cake batter. But if you want to do that, I won’t tell anyone. Saffron is also a popular add-on. I generally use mild potatoes for this.

The cake does not require much prep time & it makes good use of leftovers. These are the main reasons I find this cake to be a classic treat worth having on the table all year round. Actually, I’ve shared a slice of this cake previously with green gooseberry limoncello jam last summer. Oh, it was so good!

Lemons, blood oranges, and gooseberries, you choose. This sweet cake is elevated with something fresh and tart. Do check the previous cake slice via the above link to see the height of the whole cake for reference when baking the full recipe. I shall also add a new photo of the full cake when baking next time! :)

Potato Almond Cake | Recipe

This recipe serves 10-12 people and yields approximately 780g of cake batter. The cake moderately rises in the oven despite it does not include any leavening agent. When I baked half of this recipe, I used a small pan of 4 dl (1,7 cups) in volume. I adjusted the baking time but could have easily given it more oven time. This is a moist cake.

Potato Almond Cake

Print recipe

Makes/Serves: 10-12 Cooking time: 45-50 min 45-50 min

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

INGREDIENTS

100g butter (room temperature)

200g granulated sugar

150g almonds / almond flour

150g shredded boiled potato

3 eggs 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven 175C (350F) without a fan. Measure and prepare all the ingredients. Grease your cake pan twice and let it cool in the fridge in between the layers. Finally, coat the pan with sugar/almond flour mix to create a non-stick barrier.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites into a stiff foam with peaks. Give the beaters a wash with warm water & dry them. Then start mixing butter with sugar in a bigger bowl. Mix them well. When the butter mix becomes a light pale yellow, add egg yolk in little by little while whisking high speed at the same time.
3. Fold almond flour and shredded potatoes into the dough. Fold gently, do not over-mix. Finally, fold the egg whites in.
4. Pour the batter into the pan. Push and smooth the dough gently to make an even surface.
5. Bake the cake on the middle rack for 45-50 minutes depending on your oven. 
6. Let the cake cool 10-20 minutes. Turn out to serve and enjoy with lemon sauce. 

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Tips for baking

• The secret of this moist cake is the caramelized surface. A wide pan gives more surface, and this is why you don’t want to make this cake with a high cake mold or a bread tin.
• I prefer making the whole cake in a springform cake pan.
• Add egg yolks little by little to avoid curled cake batter.
• Make the toothpick test a couple of times. This is a moist cake & you don’t want it to be too wet, there’s a very little chance that you over-bake it.

This time we enjoyed potato almond cake with lemon curd which I made with Nigella’s recipe. If you have leftover boiled potatoes but fancy bread instead of sweet, do check these no-knead breakfast rolls.

P.S. If you have Nordic Baking Book* on your bookshelf, page 408 has more details about the Swedish recipe history.

Love, Saara

Recipe from a classic Finnish cookbook:

*Keittotaito koteja ja kouluja varten (1932) Helmi Koskimies & Eva Somersalo. Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. Porvoo. 4th editition.