I asked our paralegal what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday this year and she left it up to me to decide. The birthday girl doesn't eat chocolate and last year I made Flo Braker's "La Fleur" cake with pears. This year I selected a cake that showcases my own personal favorite ingredient: almond.
Carole Walter's "Almond Nut Crust Layer Cake" includes two cake layers that each have a crunchy top crust of crushed almonds and sugar, filled and covered in almond cream cheese frosting. The first step in the recipe is to prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering them generously and sprinkling a mixture of crushed toasted sliced almonds and granulated sugar over the bottom of each pan. The cake batter recipe calls for a lot of beating. You beat room temperature butter and softened cream cheese with lemon zest until smooth and light; keep beating while adding sugar one tablespoon at a time; add eggs one at a time, beating for a minute between each addition; add vanilla extract and almond extract; and alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and milk. You carefully divide the batter between the two pans, being careful not to dislodge the nut crust on the bottom, and bake.
After the cakes had cooled slightly, I turned them out of the pans and inverted the cakes so that they cooled with the nut crust on the bottom. The cakes were not completely flat, so I leveled the tops (the sides without the nut crusts). Before frosting the cake I re-inverted the layers so that the trimmed sides were on the bottom and the nut crusts were on top.
The frosting for this cake is a mixture of butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream, almond extract, salt, and amaretto. It was thick and creamy and not boozy at all. To my surprise, the frosting set up with a dry crust at room temperature; I pressed lightly toasted almonds onto the sides of the cake before the crust formed. I thought the cake itself was a little dry. However, the finished cake is fantastic. Every component of this cake screams almond: the flavor of the cake; the delightfully sweet and crunchy nut crusts on the cake layers; the frosting; and the toasted nuts pressed onto the sides.
To be honest, I think most people would not appreciate the fact that there is a nut crust on the cake layers. While you can obviously taste and see the almonds on top of each layer, it would be easy to assume that the nuts had been applied after baking, along with the frosting. But the nut crust is such a important part of this cake, boosting the flavor and texture. Walter points out that if you're in a rush, you can serve a single layer of this cake without the frosting because the nut crust is a wonderful topping all on its own. Yum!
Recipes: "Almond Nut Crust Layer Cake" and "Almond Cream Cheese Frosting" from Great Cakes by Carole Walter.
Previous Posts:
Carole Walter's "Almond Nut Crust Layer Cake" includes two cake layers that each have a crunchy top crust of crushed almonds and sugar, filled and covered in almond cream cheese frosting. The first step in the recipe is to prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering them generously and sprinkling a mixture of crushed toasted sliced almonds and granulated sugar over the bottom of each pan. The cake batter recipe calls for a lot of beating. You beat room temperature butter and softened cream cheese with lemon zest until smooth and light; keep beating while adding sugar one tablespoon at a time; add eggs one at a time, beating for a minute between each addition; add vanilla extract and almond extract; and alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and milk. You carefully divide the batter between the two pans, being careful not to dislodge the nut crust on the bottom, and bake.
To be honest, I think most people would not appreciate the fact that there is a nut crust on the cake layers. While you can obviously taste and see the almonds on top of each layer, it would be easy to assume that the nuts had been applied after baking, along with the frosting. But the nut crust is such a important part of this cake, boosting the flavor and texture. Walter points out that if you're in a rush, you can serve a single layer of this cake without the frosting because the nut crust is a wonderful topping all on its own. Yum!
Recipes: "Almond Nut Crust Layer Cake" and "Almond Cream Cheese Frosting" from Great Cakes by Carole Walter.
Previous Posts:
- "A Blonde Bombshell of a Cake: Rathaustorte (Town Hall Cake)," May 3, 2015.
- "Cake, Y'all: Paula Deen's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake," April 24, 2015.
- "Still So Nice Without the Spice: Fyrstekake -- Norwegian Spice Almond Tart," August 5, 2014.
- "A Super Soaked Sponge: Toscakaka," June 21, 2014.
- "Wait for It: Gâteau Breton," April 30, 2014.
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