Almond Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Finely grind the almonds in a food processor.
• With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar to a smooth pale cream. Beat in the zests and almond extract. Add the ground almonds and mix very well.
• With clean beaters, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the egg and almond mixture (the mixture is thick, so that you will need to turn it over quite a bit into the egg whites).
• Grease an 11-inch springform pan, preferably nonstick, with butter and dust it with flour. Pour in the cake batter, and bake into a preheated 350°F for 40 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch. Let cool before turning out.
• Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar. Or, if you like, cut a St. James cross out of paper. Place it in the middle of the cake, and dust the cake with confectioners' sugar, then remove the paper.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla extract and slowly pour in confectioners' sugar. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to high and add the egg yolks and whole eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Pre heat the oven to 170°c (approx. 325°f) and line a 23cm cake in with parchment paper and grease with butter or non- stick spray.
• Place the ground almonds, butter, sugar and eggs in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and fold in the self- raising flour until it is all folded in and no dry powder can be seen.
• Add both the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.
• The mixture may seem dry and thick and not smooth like a cake batter should be, if this is the case add the milk one tablespoon at a time and mix between each addition of milk. You may need to use more or less milk than the recipe asks for depending on how thick your mixture is. The finished mix should be fairly smooth and have the consistency of any other typical cake batter.
• Once the mixture is ready, pour half of the batter into the prepared cake tin. Gently smooth the batter and spread it out evenly.
• Top the layer of cake batter with the fresh raspberries spreading them out evenly. Pour the remaining batter over the raspberries and spread it out so that no raspberries can be seen. It may be easier to spread the mixture out using your fingers instead of a spoon.
• Once the raspberries have been covered and the cake mixture has been evenly spread out, top the cake with the flaked almonds before using the back of a spoon to gently press the almonds into the cake so that they get stuck in the cake batter.
• Place in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes. Once the timer goes insert a skewer or tooth pick into the cake and it should come out clean (if the toothpick hits a raspberry it may come out wet, so try testing the cake with a toothpick a few times to double check)
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool further, it doesn't have to cool completely before eating.
• Dust with some icing sugar before serving. The cake tastes best whilst still slightly warm. It should be stored in an airtight container once it has cooled completely.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter sides and bottoms of 2 8-inch cake or springform pans; line sides and bottoms with parchment paper. Butter paper. Place pans in freezer.
• Sift flour and salt into a small bowl. Set aside. In a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat butter and granulated sugar at high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add almond paste, a little at a time at medium speed, and beat 8 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, and almond extract. Mix sour cream and baking soda and add to butter mixture. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, just until blended.
• Divide batter between prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake about 40 minutes to an hour, until tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed and cakes shrink from sides of the pans. Cool in pans on wire rack. Remove sides of pans and remove paper. When ready to serve, sift confectioners' sugar on top and slice like pie.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set rack to middle position.
• Line the bottom of an 8" cake tin with parchment paper. Butter and flour the tin.
• Using an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand held) cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the almond paste about a walnut sized piece at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the kirsch (or brandy or rum), almond extract and the salt.
• Combine the cake flour and baking powder in a small bowl, add to the batter and beat vigorously for about 30 seconds.
• Pour the batter into the cake tin.
• Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown on top and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Start testing at the 30 minute mark.
• Cool the cake in the tin on a rack. Unmold the cake on to a serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
• Notes:.
• This cake has a tendency to collapse in the middle as it cools. I have found that beating the batter vigorously after the flour is added develops a bit of structure that helps alleviate the collapse. Because it is cake flour there is only so much gluten that can be developed so the cake does not become tough. And anyway, collapsed or not, it still tastes great.
• This cake is delicious served plain as is. With a little raspberry coulis, a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh berry or two, it makes for an elegant desert.
• If you have cake strips you can use them here. It's not really necessary but I find you get more even rise if you do.
• If you don't have any liquor in the house you can omit it altogether.
• This cake keeps very well, wrapped, at room temperature for a couple of days.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and position the rack to the center of the oven. Line the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with a round of parchment paper, or butter and dust it lightly with flour, tapping out any excess.
• With an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and almond paste until the paste is finely broken up (the sugar crystals help break the paste into pieces--so don't add the butter yet!).
• Now add the butter and beat for a few minutes until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl stir together the eggs with a fork then dribble it into the batter as you beat. Add the vanilla.
• Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Stir the dry ingredients into the batter until just incorporated.
• Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The baking time may take a bit longer due to the variation in different brands of almond paste.
• Cool the cake on a rack before serving.

Steps:

• Place the orange and the lemon in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and cool.
• Heat the oven to 325 degrees, and set a rack in the middle position. Bake the almonds 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. When the almonds are cool, pulse them in a food processor until ground.
• Set oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9-inch springform pan.
• When the citrus is cool, cut the lemon in half, and discard the pulp and seeds. Cut the orange in half, and discard seeds. Put the fruits in the food processor and process almost to a paste.
• In a small bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder. Combine eggs and salt. Beat until foamy. Beat in the sugar. Fold in the flour mixture. Add the citrus, almonds and olive oil, and beat on low speed until incorporated. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for about 1 hour. Let cool for 10 minutes, unmold and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4 and line the base of a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of just-simmering water, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts. Stir, then leave to cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, tip the eggs and sugar into a second bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 4-5 mins, or until thick and creamy. Add the mascarpone or soft cheese and vanilla, and continue to beat until everything is combined. Lightly fold in the cooled melted chocolate mixture until everything is one even colour, then fold in the almonds. Sift over the cocoa powder and a small pinch of salt, and fold in to combine.
• Scrape the cake batter into the prepared tin. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 35-40 mins until the cake is puffed up and has cracked on top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30-40 mins - it will deflate as it cools. Serve warm as a chocolate pudding, or leave to cool completely and enjoy as a fudgy brownie cake. Dust with extra cocoa powder before serving.