Is this cake a beauty or what? My mother-in-law was hosting a dinner party this past weekend, and she asked me to make a dessert for her to serve at the party. Once I saw this post over at Use Real Butter, I knew this was the cake I would make her for party. I have a love affair with all things almond – my favorite cake in the world is Amanda Hesser’s almond cake. I was actually tempted to make that cake for the dinner party, except I’ve made it many times and wanted to present something new to my in-laws.
So I compromised and found another recipe that had a good amount of almond in it (both almond paste and almond extract) but incorporated fresh berries folded into the batter and a simple glaze. As Jen of Use Real Butter suggests, I made a double batch and baked it for an hour and 5 minutes (perfect) in a 9-inch tube pan. I didn’t put the almonds in the glaze (even though I made a bigger cake, I only made a single batch of glaze), instead opting to drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake and sprinkle toasted, sliced almonds over it.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the cake sliced into because I delivered it whole to my in-laws before their party. I imagine it looked quite pretty on the inside, with the raspberries dotting each slice.
My mother-in-law said that the cake was a hit at her party. I tried a bite of a leftover slice the next day and it did taste delicious! I followed the recipe exactly as written over at Use Real Butter (except doubled and using the sea-level baking powder amount), so I’ll direct you there if you’d like to try it out. Do not ignore Jen’s note about pulsing the almond paste w/ the sugar before mixing with the other ingredients!
Looks delicious, Carmen! A couple of days ago, I was feeling experiment while making French toast, so I poured a bit of almond extract into the egg mixture — and it turned out pretty well. (Plus I was blasted with almond aroma when I reheated the leftovers in the microwave for this morning’s breakfast. Mmm!)
I absolutely love almond now. I got turned on with Dorie’s Pear Almond tart . . thanks for the almond inspiration!
SUCH a beauty here!
Stunning and delicious looking. I have to print this recipe.
This cake’s a beauty for sure! I love the combination of raspberry and almonds, and it must have certainly looked pretty when sliced.
It did! I was afraid all the fruit sunk to the bottom but when I saw the leftover slices the next day, they looked perfect.