How could anyone not want a slice of this?
It is such a thing of beauty that I had to stop, mid forkful and take a photo:
Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
Almond extract (whatever makes you happy – I tend to like a lot – 3 teaspoons or so)
225g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g ground almonds
25g flaked almonds (or more if you fancy)
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan oven/325°F/Gas Mark 3
- Grease and line (I use greaseproof paper or ready made cake tin liners – these are brilliant time savers as you needn’t grease the tin) a 20cm cake tin. That’s 8” for those of you over 40. Loose bottom is good, springform is even better.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. You can do this by hand but why would you when there are kitchen mixers? Do not skimp on this stage – I believe this is the most important stage of cake making. Spend some time ensuring that the mix is creamy, pale and smooth.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time. Towards the end the mix may curdle a bit; if this shames you, you can add some of the flour to stop it but there’s really no need.
- Beat in the almond extract.
- Fold in the flour and baking powder – remember, a metal spoon always gives the best results.
- Fold in the ground almonds. Make sure they are well distributed in the mix.
- Spoon into the cake tin and level off.
- Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.
- Bake for approx 1 ½ hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire tray. I let it cool in the tin before turning out.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
2 comments:
Your cakes all look so light! What is your secret? Is it the long creaming of butter and sugar or something else?
Aw thanks bina - I'm blushing!
I think the creaming of the butter and the sugar is key, but I think the main thing is not to rush. So many recipes and cooks seem about making things as quickly as possible, I say relax and enjoy the making - see it as fun rather than something to rush through to get the product!
Post a Comment