Almond Cake

Now that you've got the Crème Anglaise on hand, you've got the "frosting" for this moist almond cake, with no standard frosting, but sandwiching a layer of blueberry jam. The custard sauce will get poured onto the plates, the slices of cake then set on top. Gorgeous, no? But I have to tell you: you might just want to try this cake on its own. It's one of Bruce's best confections from THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK. (There are others in that tome. Ah, the Inside Out Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting. That's something for a celebration indeed.)

One culinary note before we get started: there's no added fat to this cake, other than the almonds and the egg yolks. Strange, eh? (And you know I'm not opposed to fat!) But the lack of butter or walnut oil or what have you allows the cake to become a very light sponge, still quite moist, but almost Twinkie-like in texture. (I can't BELIEVE I just wrote that.)

So here goes.

First, position the racks in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 9-inch cake pans. Dust them with flour, too--sprinkling some in, tilting the pans this way and that to coat the bottom and sides, and then pouring out the excess.

Two notes at this stage: 1) the cake pans should be fairly high, since the batter will rise up quite a bit. Look for professional pans at bakeware stores. And 2) grease those pans in any way you see fit. Almond oil would be best, given the cake itself. But butter will work. Or even nonstick spray.

Whisk 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat 6 large egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until foamy. While still beating at high speed, pour in 1/3 cup sugar in a slow, steady stream--then continue beating until the turned-off beaters can make droopy, satiny, soft peaks in the mixture when dabbed into it, about 5 minutes. Set these aside.

Clean and dry the beaters. Beat 5 large eggs yolks and 2/3 cup sugar in another large bowl at medium speed until the mixture is pale yellow and very thick, about 4 minutes. Then beat in 3 tablespoons milk (even fat-free can work), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

You're almost there. Just one more intermediary step. Grind slivered or sliced almonds in a food processor until you have about 1 cup of the coarsely ground stuff. Start with a generously heaping cupful, grind it down, and see where you are. With slivered almonds, you'll probably have to grind a few more.

Now the assembly. Use a rubber spatula to fold the ground almonds into the egg mixture. Then fold in the flour mixture, just until there are no white streaks visible in the batter. Finally, fold in half the beaten egg whites until there's no white left--and then fold in the remaining half in very large, slow, gentle swipes, taking care not to deflate those beaten whites. There will be a few white streaks left in the batter.

Pour and scrape this mixture into the two prepared pans. As you can tell, Bruce uses a kitchen scale to make sure he's got exactly the same amount in each pan. Baking is nothing if not obsessive . . . um, I mean, an obsession.

Bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of one of the layers comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Cool the layers in the pans for 5 minutes, then unmold them onto a wire rack and continue cooling for 1 hour.

Finally, put one layer on a cake stand or platter. Smear its top with 2/3 cup blueberry jam or preserves. And then set the other layer on top. Right before you serve it, dust the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar. And you're ready to put it on a plate in a pool of crème anglaise. Absolutely perfect.

Comments

[Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial]

Oh that really does look perfect! My copy of The Ultimate Cookbook is...tah dah...here! I'm going to look for this recipe right now. One question - I have access to very good ground almonds (also known as almond meal here) - can I use that instead? Thanks...

[Mark Scarbrough]

Celia: Purchased almond meal is finer than almonds you might grind yourself--but it'll work just fine. (This, according to Bruce, of course.)

M.

[Dana]

this looks great! i'm tempted to make it into a three layer cake, since this is really not the time for new tins... and the ones i have will overflow.

[Mark Scarbrough]

Dana: Make it in 3 eight-inch pans. Or make it in 2 more standard 10-inch pans. Two layers of jam--rather than one--would be a fine thing.

M.

[doggybloggy]

nice cake!