food & photography
Summer arrives and the longing to escape to the mountains just doubles up. I love staying in mountains for a couple of days at least two three times a year. It’s always been a refreshing and rejuvenating experience and that is why I love being in their lap more than anywhere else. Walking on the trails, listening to the birds sweet chirping, soaking in all the serenity are few of the things I’d love to do always. …
So we wanted to go out and spend the entire day on weekend in a farm or some park or even near a river, if possible. Because it is spring officially for us. Winters are long gone and it’s definitely the time to step out. Sun is rising and shining with cool breeze flowing through the ears. Such immense pleasure to soak up all that positivity which this bright and sunny weather brings along with it! I had been waiting for this weather eagerly and lots of ideas were playing on my mind since then. I wanted to make lots of picnic food and bake those lovely fruity summer berry cakes. But rarely the things go the way you would have thought them to happen! It wasn’t different anyway this time too. Friends had plans of their own for almost during the entire Spring season. And I couldn’t wait. So, I baked these lovely strawberry & almond friands, bottled some fresh milk, tucked in some seasonal juicy berries, a bottle of jam, a flask of tea and few books to read and of course a dear friend to share this joy with me. Though we couldn’t find a river but we got ourselves this beautiful airy and sunny solace in the middle of a farm nearby, where we soaked in the beauty of greener fields. It was a dream which we lived through our entire day in that farm, munching on to these yummy berry cakes, reading books, and soaking up sun.
I’ve seemingly started loving gluten free recipes as much as I adore the classic flour based cakes and bakes. And the lighter and fresher after feel is an added bonus. I have been avoiding the refined flour in my cooking from past few weeks. Whole grains and nut meals have recently replaced the refined flour completely. Every now and then I come across a beautiful recipe, mind starts working on ways to substitute refined flour with some better alternatives. 
Here weather has started to change and few rain showers have started making way for summer fruits to say goodbye soon. Now peaches, plums and cherries will soon be invisible. And to tap the opportunity to cook/bake with them to as maximum as possible, I decided to bake something with plums. Few days back, I baked this olive oil wholegrain stone fruit cake, so I didn’t want to repeat the theme, and started thinking of ways to use fruits as filling or toppings rather than easy way of bunging them into the cake batter. 
I had this lovely Italian gluten free almond cake recipe from Nigellissima. It’s a very light wonderful meringue based olive oil and almond cake recipe which alone is a treat in itself. Nigella Lawson’s recipes have always worked as charm to me, without any single disappointment till date. And this one came out really beautiful. 
I adapted the recipe to my taste slightly and replaced the almond flakes topping with the almond meal. I topped the cake with more decadent white chocolate whipped ganache. And how could I forget my obedient ingredient Plum! I picked this amazing idea of roasting them with fragrant rosemary from Ottolenghi’s. I really love the therapeutic aroma of rosemary in my sweet bakes. It feels so summery and fresh! 
So, here two of my favorite cookbooks meet together to make this ever so wonderful and yummiest concoction, A gluten free almond cake topped with white chocolate ganache and rosemary roasted plums. 
