Almond Cake Food

ALMOND CAKE

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.

ALMOND CAKE

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.

ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable spray. An alternative is to butter and flour the cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder and set aside.
• Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add confectioners' sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined and light and fluffy. Raise speed to high and add the vanilla extract, whole eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time. Mix until well combined. 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.

ALMOND POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Butter and flour a loaf pan or small square pan (8"x8").
• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Beat in the almond extract and the water.
• Stir together the flour, ground almonds and baking powder.
• Stir this into the wet ingredients.
• Pour evenly into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes for a loaf pan.
• Bake for 50 minutes in the square pan, or in either case until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

CHOCOLATE AND ALMOND TIGER CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake: Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and fit a circle of parchment paper at the base.
• Bring the butter just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Turn off the heat and leave the saucepan on the burner to keep the butter warm while you make the cake batter.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly blended. Add the almond flour and whisk. If the almond flour is lumpy, use your fingers to break up the clumps. Switch to a spatula and add the egg whites in 3 additions, stirring until the batter is smooth and easily flows off the spatula. Stir in the vanilla until incorporated. Add the butter in 3 additions, folding until it is completely incorporated and you've got a smooth batter with a light sheen. Stir in the chopped chocolate, mixing well. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly.
• Bake until golden brown, evenly risen and pulling away from the sides of the pan, 37 to 40 minutes. A tester inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and leave for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the sides of the pan, flip the cake over, remove the pan, peel away the parchment and invert the cake onto another rack. Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving or covering with ganache.
• If you'd like, make the topping: Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate. Gently stir the chocolate and cream together until blended, thick and shiny. Pour the ganache over the top of the cake and use an offset spatula or kitchen knife to spread it across the cake. Scatter over the toasted almonds. Either leave the cake on the counter to allow the ganache to set a bit (it will never be really firm) or refrigerate the cake for 15 minutes to set the chocolate. The cake is best at room temperature. Covered, it will keep for about 3 days at room temperature.

ALMOND CAKE

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.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE & ALMOND CAKE

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.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND CAKE

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.

ALMOND CAKE

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.

ORANGE ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Place orange in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until orange is soft, about 30 minutes. Drain.
• Cut orange into chunks and discard seeds.
• Mix almond flour with 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch cake pan and coat the pan with a handful of the almond-sugar mixture.
• Combine orange chunks and 1 cup sugar in a food processor; pulse until pureed. Add almond flour mixture and butter; process until smooth. Add eggs; mix until smooth. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; process until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.