Portuguese Carob Almond Cake

Sep 4

I first fell in love with Portugal through the deeper feeling of connection that came from discovering more about my Portuguese heritage. My maternal family, the Santos family, came from the Azores and immigrated to Hawaii. And as I traveled through Portugal, I found myself drawn to the food, landscapes, and traditions of a place that felt surprisingly familiar.

This cake was inspired by slow afternoons in the Algarve, where tarte de alfarroba and cups of tea were part of the rhythm of the day. Carob trees grow abundantly throughout southern Portugal alongside olives and almonds, and figs are a seasonal staple in the fall, finding their way into cakes, jams, and sweets. I love how the earthy richness of carob, sweet figs, almonds, orange, and plenty of cinnamon come together in this dense, textured cake.

Food has a beautiful way of connecting us to place, memory, and lineage. This cake is my little taste of Portugal and a reminder that sometimes discovering where we come from can help us understand a little more about where we are going.

PREP: 20 minutes + soaking time | COOK: 45–50 minutes | YIELD: 1 9-inch cake, about 10–12 servings

Ingredients

1 cup oat flour
1 cup coconut sugar
1 cup carob powder
½ cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon mineral salt
¾ cup roughly ground almonds
4 organic local eggs, whisked
½ cup olive oil or melted ghee
1 cup fig puree, about 10-12 dried figs)
1 orange, juiced & zested
1 tablespoon maple or date syrup

Instructions

Make the fig puree: Soak the dried figs overnight with filtered water until soft and plump. Drain and rinse, then blend into a thick paste, adding a small splash of water only if needed to blend. Measure out 1 cup of puree for the cake.

Make the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, coconut sugar, carob powder, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and ground almonds. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, olive oil, orange juice, orange zest, and maple or date syrup until well combined.

Add the wet ingredients and fig puree to the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the center is set and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Allow the cake to cool in the pan before removing. Serve as is or finish with a light dusting of carob and cinnamon.

Cooking Notes

On Baking: This cake is meant to be moist and slightly dense. Remove it from the oven as soon as the center is set; it will continue to firm as it cools. It’s easy to overbake and dry it out, carob already tends to be more dry so keep a close eye on it.

On Cooling: The texture improves as the cake cools and sets. For clean slices, allow it to cool completely before cutting.

On Carob: Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is generally understood to have a sweet and astringent taste, with a mildly warming quality and sweet post-digestive effect. Its nutty, mildly sweet flavor makes it less bitter than cacao, and less heating. It’s often enjoyed for its rich and roasted flavor in sweet treats as a less stimulating alternative to chocolate.