CookEat Recipe
Cake Louisiana with Sweet Almonds
A sweet-almond mould cake with raisins, candied citron, kirsch and vanilla, finished with almond halves and a light dusting of icing sugar.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Preheat a conventional oven to 175°C. Have a mortar, clean bowls and spatula ready. Choose a closed-bottom oven-safe metal pudding mould large enough for all the cake batter while leaving room for it to rise, filling it no more than two-thirds full. Keep the eggs and milk refrigerated until needed, and use clean hands and equipment.
Step 2
Weigh six ounces of plain sweet almond kernels with their skins, then count two additional sweet kernels separately. Use only sweet food-grade almonds. Plunge all the kernels into boiling potable water for about five minutes. Drain on a sieve, let them become safe to handle and peel them.
Step 3
Put both additional counted kernels on the scales, then add peeled kernels from the original six-ounce lot until the total peeled portion weighs four ounces. Pound this entire four-ounce portion to a paste. Keep all the remaining peeled kernels from the same lot and split them lengthwise into halves for lining the mould.
Step 4
Place all the almond paste in a bowl with four egg yolks, two gills of pasteurized whole milk, three ounces of granulated sugar, one teaspoon of kirsch and half a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Mix briskly with a spatula for about one minute.
Step 5
Add two ounces of softened butter and mix briskly for about one minute. Add two ounces of plain flour and mix until evenly combined.
Step 6
Add two ounces of raisins, half an ounce of chopped candied citron and half a teaspoon of baking powder. Mix gently for about half a minute, distributing the fruit through the batter.
Step 7
Lightly butter the pudding mould and arrange all the reserved almond halves over its bottom. Add all the cake batter. Bake at 175°C, allowing about forty minutes and checking the centre as it bakes. Continue until the egg-containing centre reaches at least 74°C and the cake is set and tender, with a skewer showing no wet batter. The time is a guide; reaching 74°C alone does not establish that the cake is fully baked.
Step 8
Let the cake cool in its mould for about five minutes, or longer until it is firm enough to release without breaking. Unmould onto a dish, sprinkle lightly with icing sugar and serve. Cut wedges as needed; do not eat or taste any raw batter.
Cooked it? Rate it.
Cooked 0 times