CookEat Recipe
Italian-Style Almond Cake
A rich lemon-scented cake with finely ground sweet almonds mixed into the flour before a long beating and a refrigerated batter rest.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 5 eggs, weighed in their shells; Caster sugar equal to the weight of the eggs in their shells, typically about 280–320 g; Plain flour equal to the same weighed egg total, plus 5 g for the tin; 205 g butter: 200 g for the batter and 5 g for the tin; 100 g blanched sweet almonds; Finely grated zest of 1 lemon; 1 level teaspoon baking soda, about 5 g; 5 g icing sugar for the tin.
Step 2
Weigh the five eggs in their shells and measure the same weight each of caster sugar and batter flour, keeping the extra 5 g tin flour separate. Dry the blanched almonds at 120°C for about 10–15 minutes without colouring, then cool completely. Grind very finely with two tablespoons taken from the measured caster sugar. Mix the ground almonds thoroughly into the batter flour before adding it to the eggs, so that they do not form clumps.
Step 3
Beat the five whole eggs with the remaining caster sugar until pale. Work in the flour-and-almond mixture with the lemon zest and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon for about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate at 4°C or below for 1–2 hours, the safe modern location for the rest inherited from the preceding cake.
Step 4
Heat the oven to 170°C. Grease a smooth round tin about 24 cm across and at least 7 cm deep with the 5 g tin butter. Dust with the extra flour mixed with the icing sugar. Melt the 200 g batter butter gently and cool until just lukewarm.
Step 5
Beat the melted butter gradually into the rested mixture and continue working thoroughly for about 8–10 minutes until smooth. If needed, set the bowl briefly over comfortably warm water, keeping the batter below about 40°C, to help the butter incorporate; do not heat enough to cook the eggs. Mix the baking soda evenly through and transfer promptly to the tin, leaving at least one third of its height free.
Step 6
Bake for about 45–60 minutes until golden and fully set, with no wet batter on a long skewer. Shield loosely if the top colours too quickly. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely. Serve plain, without a finishing sugar dust.
Step 7
Use only sweet almonds in this modern version; a few drops of commercially prepared food-grade bitter-almond flavouring may be added with the lemon zest if desired. The baking soda may be omitted as in Artusi’s alternative: keep all other quantities and steps the same, expect a denser cake and judge doneness by a set centre rather than by height. Do not add currants or candied peel from the preceding recipe.
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