You can notice in some of my baking, that the baked products are a little darker. That is because I grind my own almonds using my Cuisinart coffee grinder and I happen to use sliced almonds that still have a bit of skin on them around the perimeter. The resulting ground almonds is a product called almond meal. Blanched almond flour, commercially available, will be superior and will impart a lighter color to baked goods. It also has some of the fat removed and will have a finer texture (someone commented and asked about the texture).
None of my cookbooks are gluten-free (I should hasten to say, many of the recipes in my cookbooks are gluten-free anyway), however, with the gluten-free bake mixes, it is possible to convert many, many of my baking and dessert recipes to gluten-free without too much trouble. At the same time, although I'm doing gluten-free and low-carb (always low-carb!) recipes for now, my famous Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix may be used instead of the gluten-free bake mix. It is still a lovely bake mix and most low-carbers prefer it as it is grain free and only 9.9 grams of carbohydrate per cup. About the grain issue: The late Dr. Atkins said we could use soy flour and it is horrible for us (powerful goitrogen against the thyroid which can make our metabolisms tank and work against our weight loss efforts). In contrast to that sad state of affairs, oat flour is almost as low in carbs as soy flour (please check Kent's comment below and my reply) and oats are generally good for most of us (think cholesterol lowering benefits)....so, hence my preference for the small amount of oat flour in my bake mixes. Besides it tastes so much better than soy flour. So, which would you rather use - soy or oat flour?