my.requiescence.

Almond Cake

I’m drooling a bit, just thinking again about this dessert. For those almond-lovers out there, this is for you. It’s a slightly dense, sweet and buttery cake with INTENSE almond flavor; it can be a perfect after-dinner bite… or an early morning wake-up bite… or late afternoon tea-time bite. Throw on some toasted almonds, dust generously with powdered sugar, and a quick fruity sauce and it can also be a fabulously romantic Valentine’s dessert.

The cake is simple, only seven ingredients, one of them being almond paste. Almond paste is the deliciousness also found in my favorite pastries: almond croissants and bear claws. I bought a tube of almond paste awhile ago for the sole purpose of baking this cake.. and a year or so later, finally opened up the tube to bake this cake. I found that 1/2 the tube was soft and rather pliable, while 1/4 was almost rock solid, and 1/4  existed somewhere between the two consistencies. I thought briefly about sprinkling it with some water and softening it in the microwave (à la brown sugar), but I figured that it would be more time efficient to forge ahead with the first step of the recipe and use my electric mixer to beat it into paste-y submission. I mixed… and mixed… and only succeeded in breaking the paste down into hard clumps of various sizes and wildly flinging said clumps out of the bowl to distant parts of the kitchen. At this point I could have taken a hint and dumped it all back into a heat-proof bowl and zapped it in the microwave, but stubbornness prevailed and I started the second step and added the butter. A few minutes later, after scooping wayward buttered almond paste particles back into the bowl, I managed to get a somewhat fluffy butter mixture with much smaller almond paste bits and at this point, conceded defeat to the almond paste and just finished the batter. I spooned the slightly curdled-looking batter into mini-tart pans (new kitchen friends!) to bake, and sent a fervent prayer to the baking gods that the pebbles of almond paste would melt into the cake crumb.

Perhaps the baking gods took pity on me, or perhaps this was all normal almond paste behavior, because I ended up with beautifully almond flavored cakes without a trace of those hard almond chunks. I threw together handful of raspberries, (seedless) raspberry preserves, and some orange juice to make a quick raspberry sauce, but you could imagine all kinds of fruit based sauces (compotes, coulis, or CHOCOLATE) that would complement the cake nicely. This cake is so very very good, and if something so awesome could result from such a fiasco starting off, then this indeed is a great recipe to have in your arsenal.

Almond Cake

adapted Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon

Butter and flour for the pan(s)
7 ounces almond paste
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
2 tablespoons honey
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons amaretto, plus additional for brushing (I didn’t have any, and substituted with 1 tablespoon almond extract)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
pinch of salt

1/3-1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour four 4 by 1 3/4 inch high mini springform pans, or butter and flour the bottom and sides of an 8 inch round cake pan. If using the 8 inch pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. (I used five 4 by 1 inch tart pans so each cake ended up a bit thinner).

1. Place the almond paste and sugar in a large bowl. Begin to cream the mixture on low speed to break up the almond paste, then increase the speed to medium for about 2 minutes, or until the paste is broken into fine particles.
2. Add the butter and mix for 4-5 minutes, or until the mixture is light in color and airy. It is important to mix long enough or the cake will have a dense texture.
3. Mix in the honey, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add amaretto (if using), flour, and a pinch of salt, and mix just to combine.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan(s) and smooth the top. Bake the small cakes for about 15 minutes (mine took about 25, not sure why…), the large one for about 25 minutes, or until the cake is golden and springs back when pressed. Transfer to a rack to cool.
5. Brush the top of the cake(s) with amaretto and sprinkle with the toasted almonds. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. The cake(s) can be stored, well-wrapped, at room-temperature for up to 2 days. Serve with whipped cream, crème fraîche, fruit-based sauce, or fruit.