Flourless paleo & keto almond cake is the best almond cake recipe, traditional Mediterranean Croatian cake from the island of Brač, called Bračka torta.

Bračka torta is a traditional, old fashioned low carb almond cake. I made it as they used to bake it in the past on the island of Brač. Island of Brač has a big tradition of rich and tasty Mediterranean cakes and desserts. This low carb almond cake is also a paleo cake because in the past they used to make it with just a little bit of honey as a sweetener and completely flourless, with ground almonds, eggs and orange. For low carb and keto version I use low carb sweetener (Swerve and Sukrin are great for this recipe). Chocolate glaze wasn't the part of the original cake, they added chocolate glaze centuries later after the first seamen came from their travels and brought cacao and chocolate to Brač.

Ground almond recipe

This almond cake recipe is really easy to make, and a result is original, rich and moist almond cake recipe that is naturally gluten free. Bračka torta is a special cake that is part of a rich tradition and they used to make it for a special occasions and celebrations like weddings, Christmas or Easter in rich families. They spread this tradition and a recipe around Croatia and other Mediterranean countries as a true Mediterranean specialty. I found it in the old booklet of recipes that does't mention the author and adapted to keto. However, it wasn't hard to adapt it to keto at all, because the original recipe was with ground almonds and without the flour. Actually, they probably didn't have a flour at the time when they baked the first Bračka torta.

Ingredients for the almond cake

Ground almonds 5 cups (500 g/3.5 oz)

12 egg yolks

12 egg whites

Pinch of salt

Low carb sweetener 2 cups (Swerve or Sukrin or combination of erythritol and stevia) or honey for paleo version

Almond milk ⅔ cup or fresh orange juice for paleo version

Maraschino liqueur ½ cup (90 ml) (optional, you can omit Maraschino or put a little bit of rum if you like)

Orange zest of 1 orange or 7 drops of edible orange essential oil

Ingredients for the chocolate glaze

Dark chocolate 100g/3.5 oz

Almond milk 3 TBS (45ml)

Butter 1 TBS (15 g/0.5 oz)

Powdered sweetener 3 TBS

For the garnish of keto almond cake

Blanched and flaked almonds 1 TBS

Edible flowers if you have (I have used the flowers of quince we have in our garden).

Procedure to make flourless paleo keto almond cake

Mix egg whites with sweetener and a pinch of salt until you see the firm peaks.

In a separate bowl mix egg yolks with ground almonds, almond milk or orange juice, orange zest or orange essential oil and Maraschino.

Gently combine 2 mixtures and put it in a cake tin.

Bake the cake in a preheated oven on 200 C for 10 minutes and after reduce the heat to 160 C and bake the cake for 40 minutes or until it's baked (depends on your oven). You can use the vent.

When you bake the cake (check with the toothpick) prepare the glaze and pour it over the cake.

How to prepare the chocolate glaze?

In a microwave or in a double boiler melt the chocolate with butter, sweetener and almond milk.

Hot glaze pour over the cake and set it to chill.

It's the best to leave the cake in the fridge few hours or over night.

Day after, serve the cake with a cup of coffee or tea.

If you like almonds, maybe you would like to try my recipe for delicious Low Carb Focaccia Bread or Keto Meat Pie with a keto pie crust that you can make with almond flour.