Wowow where to start with this cake!! I could rave about this cake all day (just ask my family, they are probably bored of me making it for them).

Personally, I think going out for a coffee and cake at a cute independent café is one of those simply delightful moments in life and always brings me such joy. With this cake you can enjoy those simple moments anytime and any day within the comfort of your own home, whether it is a lazy Sunday afternoon or a mid week evening after a long days work, this cake solves all your problems ;) Its packed with the beautiful fresh flavours of summer and tastes amazing. But as well as tasting simply amazing it is baking dummy proof, believe me!! There's no whipping until stiff peaks or creaming until pale and fluffy, all you need is a bowl or a mixer to combine the ingredients in and mix. This cake is also completely gluten free, dairy free and vegan friendly so can be enjoyed by everyone no matter your dietary requirements. It is also refined sugar free, sweetened with just maple syrup and coconut sugar.

While no sugar is better than sugar, we need cake in our lives and so using a natural sugar that is minimally processed like coconut sugar is a better alternative. Coconut sugar like regular cane sugar is not rich in nutrients, it is a sweetener afterall. The limited processing means that unlike regular refined sugars it does retain some nutrients found in coconut palms (iron, zinc, calcium and potassium)  but not enough to highlight it as nutritionally beneficial. It does contains a small amount of inulin, a soluble fibre than can reduce blood sugar spikes and so may be a better sugar option for people with diabetes.

If you know me, you know I'm always trying to sneak some sort of vegetables into everything I make. I love any cakes or desserts that contain vegetables, fruits or nuts and courgettes have always been one of my favourite vegetables so I couldn't not include them in this cake. Honestly you can really taste them. In my opinion, lemons are one of the best flavours in cakes, fresh and zesty they are just the best. This cake is full of the last of summer produce.

Not only do almonds bring great flavours to cakes but they also add a slightly different colour and texture. Almond flour cakes tend to have a darker colour and a softer, moist cake texture (personally this is my favourite texture in cakes). Using a combination of almond flour and buckwheat flour allows the cake to be completely gluten free without it becoming dry and dull :)).

For the liquids in this cake I used coconut oil, almond milk and aquafaba. Aquafaba is the liquid that comes from a can of chickpeas (in Latin aqua means 'water' and faba means 'beans'- it is essentially bean water) but it is a great substitute for egg whites, acting as a binding agent in the cake while keeping the cake complete vegan. While both coconut oil and butter are saturated fats, I prefer to use coconut oil in baking because it increases high density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol while butter increases low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. LDL cholesterol can cause plaque (fatty) build up in the walls of your blood vessels while HDL works to clear this plaque formation preventing heart disease.

So, pop the kettle on and enjoy the last of the summer produce with my yummy courgette, lemon and almond cake :))