A scrumptious sweet tea / coffee cake with a rich tahini flavor and tart gooey raspberries to break things up. A perfect cake for the tahini lover in your life.
This gluten-free vegan tahini cake is oil-free and refined sugar-free, and has a lovely crumb and texture.
After sharing this rustic blueberry cake recipe last week, I got a little curious about making a nut-free version (for my nut-free crowd). I've only ever made this type of cake with cashew-butter in the past. It comes out lovely every time, and I like the neutral flavor of the cashew-butter.
So my idea here was originally to make a raspberry version but try it out with sunflower seed butter since it can be fairly neutral as well. But alas everything went askew when I got all set to bake and realized I was out of sunflower seed butter (facepalm!). And even more askew when I realized I only had half the amount of fresh raspberries I would have liked for this cake anyways (double facepalm!!).
After rummaging around in my pantry for some time, moving jars of hazelnut, macadamia, cashew, and pumpkin seed butters back and forth in the hope that somewhere in there there's a sunflower seed butter jar waiting for me somewhere in there (it wasn't) -- I briefly debated going a raspberry and almond butter cake since someone asked me about using almond butter in this type of recipe... but alas I just finished my jar of almond butter too... sigh!
In the end I decided that tahini and raspberries would be a good match to try out. I thought the strong flavor of tahini would be well balanced by the tart jaminess of baked raspberries. So I went for it. And was not disappointed.
The cake is lovely! Strangely almost sunflower seed halvah-like somehow in flavor, though there are no sunflower seeds in the recipe.
I did not make this recipe entirely nut-free as I used almond milk and almond extract. But if you are looking for a nut-free cake recipe, feel free to use a different plant milk (like soy milk) and omit the almond extract and use a bit more vanilla extract instead.
I also halved that blueberry cake recipe I based this cake off of (due to my raspberry shortage...) and used a small loaf tin which worked out perfectly.
Last but not least, while we're on the subject of nut and seed butters, I thought it was interesting to note how different the outcome has been when I made this cake three different ways:
- Cashew vanilla version: firm top, perfect for a thick birthday cake-like frosting
- Blueberry cake version: softer top due to moisture from blueberries, perfect as a tea / coffee cake.
- Tahini raspberry version: crispier top than blueberry (perhaps due to size of cake), a touch less rise. I suspected that would be the case before even baking it just based on how the tahini blended with the hot water. Somehow it seemed a bit heavier and less smooth compared to the cashew butter. Still turned out a very lovely cake, just a bit different from the first two versions. This one had a slightly longer baking time as well. The tahini flavor was prominent, whereas the cashew flavor was undetectable in previous cakes.
Since I got some questions on the previous recipe about swapping the nut butters as an option, I figured sharing my experiments so far might help the adventurous bakers in the crowd :).
I think swapping other nut & seed butters here should work well in most cases, but the outcomes might be slightly different in flavor, rise, and top consistency, and perhaps subtly even color.
I'll keep experimenting with this recipe in the future and share any further observations. But for now this tahini cake awaits! :)
PrintTahini Raspberry Cake
A scrumptious sweet tea / coffee cake with a rich tahini flavor and tart gooey raspberries. This gluten-free vegan cake is oil-free and refined sugar-free, and has a lovely crumb and texture.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 slices
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Liquid Cake:
- 2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk*
- 1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp pure almond extract**
Dry Cake:
- 6 tbsp white rice flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 3 tbsp sweet sticky rice flour/glutinous rice flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
"Butter" Mixture:
- ¼ cup tahini***
- ¼ cup boiling water
Fold-Ins
- ¾ cup fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Line an 8x4" loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the almond milk with vinegar and set aside, allowing it to curdle a little while working on next step.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bow. Add in all liquid cake ingredients, including the almond vinegar mixture, and stir everything thoroughly to combine.
- In a separate bowl combine the tahini with the boiled water and stir to thin out and dissolve the tahini. Add this to the cake batter and mix everything to combine.
- Fold in the fresh raspberries.
- Pour the batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 50 mins (until the top is nicely golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out completely dry). Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!****
Notes
* Feel free to use a nut-free plant milk alternative, such as soy milk or oat milk, etc.
** For a nut-free version, omit almond extract and use a bit more vanilla extract instead. Also note: I use Simply Organics almond extract which is less mild in flavor compared to many other brands -- if the brand you use is very potent, you might want to use less of it.
*** The tahini I used here is sesame paste. I used an organic version of the Nuts to You Nut Butter brand. Just noting it down as it's a different consistency from the runny Middle-Eastern type of tahini.
****Store leftovers in the fridge. This cake freezes relatively well, though best served fresh for an occasion.
Paige says
Can you just swap the separate flour mixes for a total amount of ready-made gluten free flour blend?
Audrey says
Hi Paige. You could give it a try, but the consistency will be somewhat different. If you prefer to try this out with a ready-made GF mix, look for one with sweet / sticky / glutinous rice flour as it will give it more of a lightness. Would love to hear what you ended up using and how it worked out for you.
Emilye says
I appreciate your recipes but would be more helpful if you could provide metric measurements. Since gluten free and vegan baking is already tricky in itself, it helps to have precise measurements in grams. I find that the weight of ingredients can vary significantly when using cups/tbsps.
Lynn says
Hi, can you use lemon juice instead of vinegar...?
Audrey says
Hi Lynn. Yep, that would work just as well here :)