This cake. THIS CAKE.

Ok, mine is not the most photogenic cake in the world, due to me accidentally baking it partly at too high a temperature for my small tabletop oven. But the TASTE. The TASTE. IF ONLY I COULD GET A PICTURE OF THE TASTE.

This is a gluten-free, dairy-free recipe, derived from Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free Vegan Baking Book. Thus it’s a little unusual as tea cakes go, I’m assuming. You will probably freak out at how much maple syrup is used.

• 2 cups of brown rice flour
• 1 cup of soy flour (because I’m intolerant of chickpeas, so garbanzo bean flour is out)
• 1/2 Tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1-1/2 cups brewed Earl Grey tea (I used Harney & Sons’ Earl Grey Supreme)
• 1/2 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups maple syrup

1. Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Combine the wet ingredients.
3. Slowly whisk in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Line 8.5″x4.5″ loaf pan with parchment paper (I also greased the pan) and pour batter in.
5. Bake at 375ºF in a normal oven, or 350ºF in a small tabletop oven, for 45 minutes to 1 hour until center of cake springs back on touch or internal temperature reaches 212ºF.

This is the first cake I’ve ever baked. I think. I mean, I’m not sure it’s a cake like those layer cakes are. This is just like, I guess, poundcake? The closest I’ve ever baked is cornbread.

In the original recipe you can add 3/8 cup of dried currants. I didn’t bother because I wanted to see what the cake was like on its own.

Anyways, I ate a slice, and kind of died of ecstasy? Goes very well with a cup of either black tea or a very heady fruit tea. Or water with lemon in it, that’s good too. It kind of needs an accompaniment because otherwise DED OF CAKE.