Buckwheat Berry Tart: gluten-free

A delicious tasting cake that is light, fruity and a perfect treat that's gluten-free and not too sweet. A new summer buckwheat tart recipe has been on my 'to-do list' for over 12 months. Getting the perfect balance of flavours for a cake with buckwheat flour is tricky. In this recipe, the nuttiness of buckwheat flour blended with the moisture of ground almonds, and a starch flour like tapioca for structure worked perfectly. Actually, the buckwheat flour is really subtle in this recipe.

Initially, I was inspired by a recipe I found on New York Times website I follow.   Melissa Clarke's striped berry cake with buckwheat flour. Sue Maree P style I wanted to tweak it to make a gluten-free tart/cake recipe instead. I also didn't have any fresh berries in season and I love eating the tiny wild frozen blueberries and I usually have them in my freezer. I am calling it a tart as I bake it in my tart tin, which is thinner than a typical cake.  This cake is delicious and served alone or with vanilla ice cream, cream Fraiche or whipped cream.  

Takes = 10 minutes
Bakes = 25-30 minutes
Makes = 20cm tart pan or a 20cm (8-inch round cake tin) 8-10 pieces

Ingredients

• Buckwheat flour – 80g (1/2 cup)
• Ground almonds –  40g (1/3 cup)
• Tapioca flour, arrowroot or cornflour – 40g (1/4 cup)
• Baking powder – 1/2 ts
• Salt – 1/8 ts
• Butter, softened – 115g
• White Sugar – 100g (1/2 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
• 1 large egg
• Soy milk, soured with 1 TB of white vinegar – 60g, 1/4 cup (or your milk choice)
• Fresh berries; blueberries, sliced strawberries, blackberries, raspberries – 1/2-1 cup.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190˚C, 170˚C fan and butter a 20cm (8-inch) tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the base with a round of baking paper and butter the paper too.
2. Whisk together all the dry ingredients; almonds, buckwheat flour, tapioca and baking powder, vanilla sugar (if using) and salt.
3. Beat butter, sugar (and vanilla extract) until creamy and pale for about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add in soured milk. Don't worry if the mixture starts to look curdled. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined.
4. Pour into the prepared tart pan and smooth the top. Add the berries in a striped pattern or another creative design then sprinkle with a teaspoon of white sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the centre is done and comes out clean when tested with a toothpick or cake tester.
5. Cool completely at room temperature and remove the outer ring of the pan. Serve with vanilla ice cream, cream Fraiche or whipped cream.

Sue Maree Baking Tips

• Berries – my first test I only about 5 rows of fruit, I think more is better.