Gluten free, vegan almond cake

I made this cake over the weekend as my husband and I were entertaining a vegan acquaintance who is also allergic to wheat.  Given that I have been doing plenty of allergen free cooking, I was not perturbed with the prospect of entertaining someone with dietary restrictions. However, this cake was more of an experiment than general as I had run out of the egg replacer powder ( I used the last of it for my vegan custard) and thus ended up using vinegar and soda water instead, an old method which I have used in the past to make eggless cakes, and the results speak for themselves.

Ingredients
1 cup chick pea flour
1 cup almond meal
1 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1 cup of soda water
4 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method
Line the base and sides of a 20 cm round baking tin and place on a baking tray. Pre heat fan forced oven to 180 degree Celsius .

In a mixing bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients, stir to incorporate and place in the cake tin. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the oven for a further 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for a further 20 minutes before removing the cake.

I prefer to decorate my cakes with fruit, rather than ice them and in this instance have used in season plums. I also served it with a vegan custard which I made with almond milk, sugar, egg replacer powder, vanilla and a pinch of saffron.