Media/Diet (July '26)

Beach-friendly vegan almond snack cake

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MEDIA/DIET (JULY 2026)

Thanks for reading my newsletter! This is a monthly edition of Ultracold where I share thoughts on media, food or art that I have consumed recently. Please stay tuned for weekly short essays and the monthly Big Essay feature as well.

It has not been a good summer for baking. Through a combination of busyness and high temperatures, both June and July have seen me spend very little time by my oven so far, and even less time dealing with melty frostings and glazes. I’ve felt guilty about this. After all, I am that one friend that brings a cake whenever you invite them to an outing or a birthday party. I am also the kind of friend that needs to be handing out plates of something sweet to stave off a whole lot of social anxiety. Is that even possible during a scorching hot summer? As it turns out, the answer is “yes,” by which I mean that you can bring a snack cake to the beach.

I am a big proponent of bringing your own food to the beach, probably because I grew up eating my grandfather’s tomatoes and sandwiches in the bright Croatian sun, grabbing at it all with salty hands whenever they were not busy with cards or comic books. It’s a sweet memory, but one that I have rarely tried to recreate in New York. The beaches here are bigger, the ocean is a lot more angry than the warm and shallow Adriatic sea, and I now get to sit in the shade of umbrellas and tents. This has encouraged me to be more ambitious and bring big bowls of pasta salad, fruits, and dips paired with homemade bread. On the last Sunday of this past June, a cake made it into the mix too.

Instead of watching the Pride parade, I was standing barefoot on hot sand, holding out a cake pan to everyone who came to say “Hi” to one of my friends, including a good portion of a lesbian wedding party. “If you are allergic to almonds, you will die,” I warned with the sort of drama that the situation required then watched as sandy fingers fumbled around fudgy squares sticky with plum juice. I hope this made me some new friends, but I’ll be sure to let you know. And I am sharing a sketch of the recipe for this beach-friendly almond and plum cake below.

The cake is a favourite of mine and I have made it many times for bake sales and casual gatherings with friends, and at least once in the middle of the night for my mom as she was about to leave town. Looking through my archives I was surprised that I had not shared it before because it is both relatively easy to make and very flavourful.

Much of that flavour comes from almond flour, which also gives the cake a somewhat chewy yet soft texture that is reminiscent of marzipan. I often find both marzipan and traditional almond paste overwhelming, but I love the taste in this cake – it’s just decadent enough. Practically, the fattiness of the almonds means that this cake stays moist for a while at room temperature and melts in the mouth when served warm, but you can also serve it straight from the fridge for a more fudgey experience.

I tend to top it with stone fruits, like cherries or plums, but I think thin apple slices could also work well, as would leaving out fruit all together and opting for a layer of raspberry or blackberry jam and a thick chocolate glaze. With a particularly good cup of coffee, the cake may even work with no toppings at all, just a crunchy sugary lid, as in the recipe below, or with a dusting of powdered sugar instead.

For one 10 inch cake, you will need:

2 cups of almond flour

1 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup of almond milk

⅓ cup of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon almond extract

For topping:

3-4 plums cut into quarters or sixths or 12-15 cherries pitted and cut in half

A few extra tablespoons of flour

A few extra tablespoons of sugar

About a tablespoon of vegan butter (optional)

First, grease a round cake pan, line it with baking paper, and preheat the oven to 350F.

In a small bowl or a jar, mix the almond milk with apple cider vinegar and let sit. In another small bowl, mix your fruits with a few tablespoons of flour, just so they are covered and the flour has absorbed some of their moisture.

In a large bowl sift all the dry ingredients together, making sure that the almond flour doesn’t clump. Then, add the almond milk mixture, oil and almond extract. Mix with a spatula until no dry streaks remain. The batter will be thick and sticky, scrapable but not necessarily pourable.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it across it evenly, smoothing the top with a spatula as you need. Top with the fruit by lightly pushing it into the batter. At this point you can add some thin slices of vegan butter at a few scattered places on the cake then generously pour sugar over the whole thing, covering it rather thoroughly if you want the cake to have a sugary lid.

Bake for about an hour, checking for doneness after 50 minutes. The cake is done when it springs to touch a little and a toothpick comes out dry when you poke the batter. Let the cake cool in the pan, on a wire rack. You may put it in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap or inside a cake carrier once it is completely cool, but it will also keep on the counter, also covered.

Best,

Karmela