Chez Panisse Almond Cake
"This is a fabulous cake. Cut in wedges and served with fresh berries and whipped cream"
photo by Demandy
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Yields:
-
1 9inch cake
ingredients
- 1 1⁄3 cups granulated sugar
- 3⁄4 cup almond paste (not marzipan)
- 10 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and position the rack to the center of the oven.
- Line the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with a round of parchment paper, or butter the pan and dust it lightly with flour, tapping out any excess.
- With an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and almond paste until the paste is finely broken up (the sugar crystals helps break the paste into pieces-so don't add the butter yet!) 3.
- Now add the butter and beat for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, or a measuring cup with a spout, stir together the eggs with a fork then dribble it into the batter as you beat.
- Add the vanilla.
- Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the batter until just incorporated.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- The baking time may take a but longer due to the variation in different brands of almond paste.
- Cool the cake on a rack before serving.
- This cake is extremely moist and will keep well for up to a week if well-wrapped.
Questions & Replies
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The ingredients listed says baking powder but it says baking soda in the directions!
Reviews
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This is fab. I baked it in mini size also and it's texture isn't the same. Do it as written in one pan.Before baking I sprinkle it with xxxsugar and sliced almonds, it looks great. -
This tastes just like marzipan so if you like marzipan you'll love this cake. I did find it a bit oily so I would recommend decreasing the amount of margarine to 2 sticks and using parchment paper so that it shouldn't stick to the pan. -
This cake tasted fabulous. I did, however, have a problem. I used the suggested cake pan and ended up with overflow cake burning on the bottom of my oven. I thought the amount of batter looked too large for the pan, but I trusted the recipe. I'm not sure why I had the problem. I think I could have filled two pans! Anyway--even the bits I saved from the oven floor tasted good! -
My advice is to grate the almond past on the large side of your box grater and incorporate the sugar. Really helps to make a lighter cake, both in color and texture. The cake was loved by my group, with several asking for the recipe. I added a light coating of apricot jam to the top of the cooled cake and it acted like glue for the toasted, sliced almonds I added before cutting and serving. Everyone loved it. -
Just made this today and it is Amazing! Moist, delicious...just perfect for afternoon tea or dessert! I make my own almond paste and it worked really well with this cake....DELICIOUS!
see 9 more reviews
Tweaks
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The addition of the jam and sliced almonds were the only tweaks, but well worth the additional crunch and flavor.
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It's much cheaper to make your own almond paste, and you can even start from whole blanched almonds. Also, I make this in a springform pan, not a regular cake pan.
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I can't accurately review the original recipe because of the number of my tweaks, but it sure was a great recipe to use for my adaptation. My most significant tweak was to substitute a 12.5 oz can of Solo brand Almond Cake & Pastry Filling for the more expensive almond paste. I also reduced the sugar to 1 cup, reduced the butter to 8 oz, increased the all-purpose flour to 1 1/4 cups, and used 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp pure almond extract instead of 1 full teaspoon vanilla extract. I baked my cake in a 9 inch spring form pan. I topped the cake with sliced almonds before baking. I really think the almond pastry & cake filling made it especially moist and delicious. Also, though my grocery stores do sell almond paste, I believe that many across the US might not. The almond pastry & cake filling in the can may possibly be more widely available. I have made my own almond paste in the past and it is easy, especially with Bob's Red Mill super fine almond flour. Making homemade can definitely be cheaper than buying it pre-made. Ditto with marzipan.
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The only tweak I made was using regular salted butter and I baked it in a 10 inch round cake pan for 48 minutes rather than a 9 inch pan for an hour. It turned out perfectly...didn't overflow the top as some said occurred when using a 9 inch. My husband loves it!
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If you use a 9" pan, you will need a deep one - preferably 2.5" deep. My bake time was closer to 90 minutes.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
spatchcock
United States
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