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Persimmon Cake

Name: Persimmon Cake
Prep time: 30

(5 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5)

30 min prep

8 servings

Carrot Icon for Number of Ingredients Size

15 ingredients

This Persimmon Cake is a delicious gluten-free dessert that’s simple to make, and a great way to use the soft-fleshed orange persimmons that show up in the late fall and winter. The cake has...

2 very ripe medium persimmons, cut in half and deseeded
1 cup ricotta cheese
⅓ cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon tangerine or orange zest
1¼ cups almond flour
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoons ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cream of Tartar

Lemon syrup:

¼ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar

Missing an Ingredient?

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Nutrition Facts

Calories

226 cals

Fat

14 g

Saturated Fat

4 g

Polyunsaturated Fat

0 g

Monounsaturated Fat

2 g

Carbohydrates

19 g

Sugar

12 g

Fiber

2 g

Protein

9 g

Sodium

60 mg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan.
Scoop out the flesh from the halved persimmons into a large bowl. Beat together with the ricotta and sugar until smooth, then beat in the egg yolks one by one. Stir in the citrus zest.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Fold into the persimmon mixture with a spatula until all the flour been absorbed. Set aside.
In a separate bowl with a hand or electric whisk, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar together until soft peaks. Take a spatula. Fold a spoonful of the egg whites into the persimmon batter to break it up, then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Don’t over mix. The mixture should have some streaks of egg white in it.
Pour into the prepared baking pan, and bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 and continue to cook for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top is brown and the cake puffy yet firm. Cool on a rack, the cake will fall as it cools.
While the cake is cooling, in a small saucepan boil the lemon juice and sugar until a thick tart syrup coats the back of a spoon. Then immediately drizzle onto the cake. Eat at room temperature.

Chef Tips

For a creamier texture, bake the cake in a bain-marie filled with hot water

If persimmons aren’t available, you can substitute with a couple of medium size poached pears. Be aware that when cooked the cake will be a pale brown and not the creamy white you’d expect given the ingredients.

Registered Dietitian Approved

Our recipes, articles, videos, and more content are reviewed by our Registered Dietitian Kate Ueland, MS, RD, CSO, a board-certified specialist in oncology nutrition, to ensure that each is backed with scientific evidence and follows the guidelines set by the Oncology Nutrition for Clinical Practice, 2nd Ed., published by the Oncology Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, a professional interest group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society.