Cake recipe made with almond flour in the top photo and almond meal in the bottom photo. Compare the cakes - here is the one made with almond meal and the recipe for this cake.
On a recent trip to the States my sweet hubby, Ian, brought home some almond flour from Honeyville Grains Company. I was thrilled to receive it, even although some of it spilled in the suitcase as government officials slashed a hole in the packet to check that it was really almond flour.
Many of you know I use almond meal (ground sliced almonds with a tiny bit of skin on the edges) in my bake mix. I was slightly concerned that there might be appreciable differences for folks using the convenience of commercially available almond flour, which is usually partially defatted.
I promised I would try almond flour in my Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix as well as coconut flour from Bob's Red Mill (I used Aloha Nu from Netrition.com which may have been discontinued).
Turns out baking with almond flour is a pleasure; love the convenience factor obviously! The almond flour from Honeyville Grains is apparently the very best and they have a very good price; bought mine in a 5 lb bag. Another 5 lb bag waits for me in Montana.
The only difference I noticed is that the baking has a finer crumb and looks lighter in color. Bob's Red Mill coconut flour performs much the same as the coconut flour I used. This is all good news! I think for cakes almond flour is superior but my cake with almond meal was still very good indeed.
I am envious of people being able to easily come by almond flour. I used to have that luxury in Vernon, British Columbia in Canada. We had not one but two incredible health food stores in the same little town when I was developing my 5 low-carb cookbooks. I was so blessed. Now I have access to a tiny health food store that has a cheek to go by that name. Waah!