I’ve made this cake a couple of times now, and each time I’ve been impressed. The biggest reasons being that it stays moist and fresh tasting for days and it tastes good. Surprisingly good — I mean, it doesn’t look like much, and reading the list of ingredients, it doesn’t sound so exciting. But the almond flavour is strong without being over powering, and the brown butter flavour adds a deep richness. Yum.

Not only does it taste good, it also goes so nicely with fresh fruit in the summer. I’ve also made it with the caramel and roasted pears that the original recipe recommends, and loved it with that too, which makes this a very versatile all-seasons cake.

Another reason why you should like this cake? It uses up 9 (!) egg whites — and as someone who always uses up way more yolks than whites, this is a very good thing.

Oh! and don’t let the multiple steps and seemingly convoluted process intimidate you — when you follow the instructions through, it’s actually a pretty easy cake to make.

The Recipe

Originally found in Fine Cooking magazine
Makes one 10-inch cake

1 cup / 250mL whole almonds
10 tbsp / 150mL unsalted butter
3/4 cup / 185mL sugar
1 cup / 250mL cake flour
2 tsp / 10mL baking powder
pinch salt
2 tbsp / 30mL dark rum
1 tsp / 5mL vanilla extract
1/4 cup / 60mL full-fat sour cream
9 egg whites
3/4 cup / 185mL sugar
1/4 cup / 60mL sliced almonds

How-To

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) / 180 degrees (C). Grease a 10 inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Spread the whole almonds on a baking sheet and roast in oven until toasted, approximately 7-8 minutes. The almonds will be fragrant and not too brown. Shake the pan every couple of minutes to ensure you don’t over cook the nuts and that they toast evenly. Allow to cool.

In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook until you see brown flecks on the bottom — this will take 7-8 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Scrape all the brown flecks from the saucepan and set aside to cool.

Pulse the whole almonds with the first amount of sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Pour into a second medium-sized mixing bowl and mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Add the rum, vanilla and sour cream into the butter and stir to combine well.

In a third bowl, that is very well cleaned of any oil or grease and is very dry, beat the egg whites. Begin with your mixer’s slowest speed, and slowly increase the speed after they start to foam, until you’ve reached medium-high speed. Once the egg whites barely hold a shape, slowly add the second amount of sugar. Continue beating at medium-high speed until the egg whites hold soft peaks.

Spoon a large dallop of the egg white mixture into the butter mixture and combine well.

Carefully fold half of the almond mixture into the rest of the egg whites, then fold in half of the butter mixture. Again, fold in the remaining almond mixture and finish by folding in the last of the butter mixture.

Pour the batter into the springform pan, make the top pretty and even, and decorate the top with the sliced almonds.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The cake will be risen and a deep golden colour. The top will spring back when pressed lightly.

Allow to cool until warm to touch (20-30 minutes), then run a knife around the outside of the pan. Remove the outside ring of the pan, then flip the cake onto a rack. Remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper, then gently flip to right-side-up onto your serving pate.

Shown above with fresh cherries and dusted with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Do you remember the old Mark Messier ads for Lays with the catchphrase “Betcha can’t eat just one”?

Yeah, well, this cake is like just like that: you cut one piece, and when it’s done, you need to cut another. The worst part is that there’s so little butter in it, you don’t even feel guilty. Okay, maybe a little guilty, but not enough to stop cutting that second piece. Oy. I found this recipe on Food & Whine and didn’t change a thing. Yup, it’s that good: kinda tangy, kinda sweet. *le sigh* What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

The rhubarb I got from the market was a variety that is more green than red, which is why it looks like I put some serious vegetable action into the cake in the photo above. If your rhubarb is red, you needn’t worry. If your rhubarb is green like mine was, bake this anyways dammit!

It was the boyfriend’s birthday last week, which calls for a cake. He decided that he wanted a carrot cake. It sounds simple enough, but there are so many different kinds, and everyone has a version that they think is best.

He and I each fall squarely in the opposite sides of this debate: I’m a ‘kitchen sink’ version kind of girl who thinks the cake is best when it includes not only carrot, but also crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins, and nuts. He, on the other hand, is a purist who believes carrot cake shouldn’t have multiple components that may or may not confuse or distract the pallet with different flavours — it should be carrots, and maybe nuts, only.

Even though I was the baker, this time he was the birthday boy, so his version won (what my baby wants, my baby gets ;-) It turns out that this cake was so good, I hardly missed the raisins/pineapple/coconut that wasn’t there.

The size of this cake is great if you’re not planning on sharing with many. It produces between 6-8 servings, depending on how you cut it.

The Recipe

Adapted from Fine Cooking
Makes 1 half- sized double layer cake

Cake:
1 cup / 250mL flour
3/4 tsp. / 4mL baking soda
1 tsp. / 5mL cinnamon
1/2 tsp. / 2.5mL nutmeg
1/4 tsp. / 2mL ground ginger
1/2 tsp. / 2.5mL salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup / 125mL vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup / 250mL brown sugar
3/4 tsp. / 4mL vanilla
1 1/4 cup / 325mL grated carrots (approximately 3 large)

Icing:
8oz / 250g cream cheese
3/4 cups / 180mL butter
2 tsp. / 10mL vanilla
1/4 tsp. / 2mL salt
approximately 2 cups / 500mL icing sugar

How To

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F)

Grease and flour 8×8 inch square pan; line bottom with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together dry ingredients: flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Stir in nuts and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together oil and eggs. Add in brown sugar and vanilla and stir to combine well. Finally, add in the carrots and mix to coat evenly.

Add the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet (oil-egg-carrot mixture) and mix well. Do not over mix as this will develop the gluten and make your cake tough– only combine until you have a smooth batter (as smooth as a carrot batter can be,) then stop.

Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cake should be dry to touch and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then should be removed from pan and allowed to cool on a rack.

Icing:

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in vanilla and salt and mix to combine. Slowly add in icing sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble

Slice the cooled cake in half so you have two rectangle shapes. Place one on your serving platter. Top with approximately 1/3 cup / 90mL icing and spread to distribute evenly on the top only. Place the second layer of cake on top, and apply a crumb-coat of icing to the cake. (A crumb-coat is a thin layer of icing that ‘glues’ down the crumbs from the cake.) Chill for 20 minutes. Use the remaining icing to decorate the cake as desired.

Perfect Pairings

• Coffee
• Lemon-based Tea

Thoughts

When spreading icing, it should be near room temperature or else it will look a little grainy (even though it’s not actually.)

This cake is difficult to achieve a true crumb-coat with — I found the crumbs poked through the icing regardless, but it’s worth a try just the same.

The cake is very moist — it would probably be safe to reduce the oil to 3/4 cup / 180mL .

Some friends and I get together every month or so for an evening of trying new recipes. This month, there were a few birthdays around the table, so I volunteered to bring a cake (I love an excuse to bake a cake!) As the meal we would be eating beforehand would be large, I decided to make a smaller, single tier cake. I wasn’t sure how tall it would get, so I used a springform pan — in retrospect, a regular round pan of the same circumference would have been fine.

The cake itself is a little on the dense side, but with a light flavour. The cream-cheese based icing actually brings out, rather than competes with the orange.

To decorate, I used candied orange peels — I couldn’t find any that weren’t covered in chocolate, and when I sliced them, the chocolate mostly came off. What little chocolate that was left on the orange peel became the chocolate flakes on the cake :-)

Yay for friends birthdays and excuses to bake cakes!

The Recipes

A variation on “Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Creme Icing”
from Food & Drink, Spring 2010

Cake:
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (sifted before measured) cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest

Icing:
1/2 cup cream cheese
3 tbsp butter
3 tsp honey
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
2 cups icing sugar (approximately)

Decoration:

Candied orange peel (optional)

How To

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F)

Grease a 9 inch spring form pan (a smaller pan would also be okay, but adjust baking time accordingly).

Beat butter for 1 minute, then add sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.

In a seperate bowl, mix together dry ingredients: sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, combine milk and orange juice — you might expect it to curdle, but it won’t.

Alternately mix in half the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar/egg mixture and stir, then add half the liquid, and again, stir together. Repeat with remaining dry and wet ingredients. Finally, stir in the orange zest.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes. The cake should be golden coloured, and firm to the touch; a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. Remove the sides of the pan and cool on a rack.

Icing:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in butter, and mix until combined. Beat in honey, vanilla & salt. Gradually add in enough icing sugar to reach desired consistency.

Pour on to cake, and spread to cover. Decorate as you please. Oh how pretty :-)