What better way to welcome March than making a delicious cake. It has been days that we have been craving a piece of cake!  I rarely bake, but when I do, I always bake the same things: vanilla or lemon pound cake or brownies (that is as far as my repertoire goes).

I thought it was time I expanded my baking horizons. I love the zucchini and walnuts bread from Nordstrom Ebar and I’ve been wanting to try to make it at home. So in the meantime, I searched for a relatively easy cake and I found this scrumptious piece of heaven. It got my attention that it can be prepared entirely in the food processor.

I made a few adjustments. I used a Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan instead of a 9 inch round cake pan or spring form pan and it came out just gorgeous. It didn’t settle when it cooled or sag. This may happen if you use a regular round cake pan.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of unsalted butter, I used 1/2 cup. And I reduced the amount of sugar from 1 1/3 cup of  to just 1  cup. I thought that the  almond paste would compensate for moist and sweetness and it did. If this is the first time you are going to make it I would suggest to follow the original recipe and instructions below.

I made the cake yesterday and the house smelled like a cloud of sweet almond happiness. We let it rest and then we couldn’t help it but to try it. Let me just tell you, if you are going to have a piece of cake you should definitely try this one. It is rich, moist, classy and it has the right amount of almond flavor. It also could be perfect covered with good chocolate icing or ganache. I decided to dust it with powdered sugar.

I served the almond cake with caramel sauce and strawberries. The sweetness  of the cake and the sauce, the almond flavor and the tartness of the strawberries made an exceptional combination. It would be excellent paired with raspberries or raspberry sauce, lemon curd or peaches as well. And please, let’s not forget the coffee…

This  cake will stay fresh – well covered- out of the refrigerator for 4 days, and it can be frozen for 2 months.

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz (in turn adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere)

Almond Cake

Yield: 10- 14 Slices

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups of sugar (you can adjust to just 1 cup)

3/4 + 1/4 cup (total 1 cup) of flour

7 oz almond paste

1 cup  or 8 oz  of unsalted butter at room temperature, cubed

(you can adjust to 1/2 cup or 4 oz)

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

3/4 tsp of salt

1 tsp of almond extract

1 tsp of vanilla extract

6 eggs at room temperature

 

 

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 ° Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 inch cake pan or spring form pan with butter and dust with flour. Cover or line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. I used a heritage cake pan and greased it with vegetable spray.

The original recipe suggests to use the food processor.  Mix the almond butter, sugar and 1/4 cup of the flour. Until you get a sand uniform consistency. Add the butter (cut in cubes) and process, add the vanilla and almond extract and process until smooth.

Place the remaining of the dry ingredients, salt, baking powder and flour and sift into a small bowl.

Add one egg at a time and process until is all mixed together. At this point I added the dry mixture from the small bowl,   whisked and folded until all ingredients were incorporated. Try not to over mix the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the middle rack in the oven.

Bake for 45-60 minutes or until the cake is slightly brown.

Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool down. If you used a round cake pan or a spring form pan, run a serrated knife around the perimeter in order to separate the cake from the sides of the pan.

Once cool, remove from the pan. Remember to remove the parchment paper from the bottom if you used it and and it will be ready to serve.