This naturally gluten free Flourless Whole Meyer Lemon cake is made with the entire lemon, peel and all, in the Mediterranean tradition, it has a tender texture and an explosive lemon flavor.
I spent the day before we left clearing out the kitchen like I always do before a trip that’s going to be more than a couple of days long. I promised myself I wouldn’t cook anything so I could focus my attention on cleaning up, packing, getting the dog squared away with the pet sitter, and paying stray bills. That all went out the window when I saw I had four plump Meyer lemons sitting in the fruit bowl. You can’t throw Meyer lemons in the garbage. That’s a sacrilege.
My Flourless Whole Tangerine Cake was the inspiration here. Cakes made with whole citrus fruit are a Mediterranean specialty; they’re made with the whole fruit, peel and all. There is no wheat flour in this cake, just almond meal, so it has a fabulous moist dense texture and is naturally gluten free. In addition to the 3 whole lemons in the cake I added a touch of lemon extract and a super tangy lemon icing so this cake is really the essence of ‘lemony-ness’.
This flourless whole Meyer lemon cake is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are a citrus fanatic like I am, I think you will love it. The fruit is boiled before pureeing, and that takes away any unpleasant bitterness in the peel. The combination of the whole pureed fruit and the almond meal makes for a very moist, but not soggy, cake.
Traditionally this kind of cake would be served plain, maybe with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, but I went over the top with a puckery lemon icing. I originally added it because the surface of my cake was a little jagged and wasn’t very attractive for photographing, but I’m so glad I did, it makes the cake extra special. It’s the kind of cake you can serve to guests, or eat, sliver by sliver, all week long.
A note about flavor — I am a big fan of pure flavor extracts. I’m talking about pure natural extracts, not artificial flavorings. I think they add a nice boost in certain cases and in this case the lemon extract just enhances the citrus flavor of the cake. It’s handy to have a selection in your cupboard, especially as we go into the holiday and baking season. In addition to almond and vanilla I keep spearmint, peppermint, lemon, orange, rum, and coconut extracts around. I’m searching for maple extract, which is a little harder to find. There are lots of varieties available, ranging from pistachio to watermelon and cardamom. Just remember to say away from anything with the words ‘artificial’ or ‘imitation’ on the label. Olive Nation has a great selection if you’re interested.
If you love gluten free desserts, try some of my others, I love this Belgian Flourless Chocolate Cake, I’ve been making it for years, and it’s always a hit with guests. Yotam Ottolenghi’s Flourless Coconut Cake is an unusual gluten free cake for coconut lovers.
Reader Rave ~
“I absolutely love LOVE love this recipe and made it many times. But today I tried something different. I made cupcakes. Worked perfectly. A muffin tin was used but I poured the batter into larger sized paper muffin cups. Wasn’t sure how much to put in each and guessed, filled about 2/3 up and got 11 (of the 12) filled. Perfect. Was able to peel the paper off without any issue and the resulting cupcakes were super moist and as good as the larger sized cake.” ~ Andrew
Flourless Whole Meyer Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 large Meyer Lemons, approximately 12 oz, total to yield 1 cup of whole lemon puree
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 cups almond meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp lemon extract
for the lemon icing
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- Set oven to 325F
- Wash the lemons and put them in a pot. Cover them with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes.
- Drain the lemons and let them cool until you can handle them. Cut them open and remove the seeds, but keep everything else. Do this on a plate so you can retain all the juices. Once you have removed all the seeds, put everything into a food processor. Process until finely pureed. You may need to pulse the machine at first, and scrape down the sides as necessary to get everything smooth. This will only take a couple of minutes. You will need one cup of lemon puree for the cake.
- Beat the eggs and the sugar until pale in color. Add the lemon extract.
- Fold in the almond meal, baking powder, and lemon puree. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Turn the batter into a greased 9" springform pan. Smooth out the surface so it is even.
- Bake for about 50 -60 minutes, just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then gently release the sides of the pan and remove the cake to finish cooling.
- Make the icing while the cake is cooling. Combine the sugar with the butter and lemon juice. Beat until smooth and creamy. Adjust the texture by adding more sugar or more lemon juice. If you prefer a less tangy icing, use less lemon juice and add a little milk or cream. Spread the icing on the completely cooled cake.
Has anyone tried making this in an Instapot? Seems like it might do well, but I’m an instapot novice. Thanks for any tips!
I made this cake for family for Easter so that those of us who have to eat gluten free would have a dessert. This cake was so popular that EVERYONE ate it. I’m now making two to take to our family Christmas Eve. Thank you!
This is the second year in a row I have made this for a Christmas Eve party. People love it. I top it with lemon scented whipped cream.
Hi! Just bought Meyer Lemons at Aldi. I love Nigella Lawson’s Lemon Polenta Cake and Clementine cake – which follows this method. Excited to see how this recipe turns out, especially the frosting.
Meyer lemons are so fantastic, I have a bag in the fridge right now. I love this cake, and personally think the frosting makes it extra special.
Can you use regular flour?
This cake is formulated with the nut flour Emily, and I have never tried it with regular flour, so I’m sorry I can’t say how that would work.
I’ve made this a few times and it’s always a hit. In fact I’m making one now for an event and my husband asked me to make an extra one to leave at home. I add whole fresh blackberries around the edge of the iced cake for an extra kick of flavor and color. So delicious
The blackberries sound like such a nice touch, I think I’ll try that when they come back in season.
Hi there, is the cake pale and flat when it comes out of the oven. Mine didn’t seem to rise much?
Thanks so much!
This cake should be pale and flat Mary, it’s got a moist dense texture, not like a regular cake mix cake. I hope you add the tangy frosting, that really makes it!
This looks fantastic. Going to make it this week.
Any chance I can reduce the sugar and still have it come out delicious??
Thank you for posting this!
The general rule of thumb for reducing sugar in baking is to reduce it gradually, so I would recommend reducing by 1/4 cup to start, J. Remember this cake is made with whole lemons, so it benefits from the 1 cup of sugar. For the frosting you can play around with less sugar for sure, maybe you can do a glaze instead of a frosting, for instance.
I am in the UK and haven’t seen Meyer lemons (it seems as if they are a hybrid fruit) except on US cookery sites. I used the juice and pulp of 2 (unwaxed) Sicilian lemons and 1/2 of one lemon’s peel and the juice, pulp and peel of one (unwaxed) Sicilian orange instead. I ended up with a scant cup of fruit puree. I cut the sugar to 3/4 cup and still found it a little sweet so I think you could do 1/2 cup if you didn’t want it too sweet. I was also missing 1/2 a cup of almond flour but the cake turned out very well and was well received. I served it with some greek yoghurt sweetened with a little icing sugar, vanilla and some of the remaining grated peel and grapefruit segments. It was lovely!
do you peel the Meyer Lemons?
No, this cake is made with the whole fruit Debby. Just remove the seeds!