Almond Cake with raspberries baked in//Raspberry Jam Filling//Lemon Buttercream, cut with a touch of cream cheese
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Gluten-free modification possible - see notes
This is my most favourite cake. Well…I must say that it is tied for that title with my Walnut Coffee Cake. Which, incidentally, you should also make. You will thank me later. Interestingly, they both contain a high percentage of ground nuts, which lend the most wonderful moist texture to cakes. I have also noticed that my body feels better eating these, in contrast with regular cakes. I imagine that the high protein and fibre contents of the nuts are to thank for that. One doesn’t tend to make cake with its renowned health benefits in mind, of course, but I do find it interesting to note! Now let me describe this dreamy cake. It’s not often that the cake itself is just as delicious as the frosting, but this one most definitely is. I am equally obsessed with both. The cake is incredibly moist, with a unique delectable texture, and a crust with notes of caramel. The almond extract gives it the most gorgeous flavour, which is perfectly balanced with a hint of lemon zest. The frosting is wonderfully whipped and airy, and carries the majority of the lemony hit. The sugar is carefully measured to ensure harmony with the whole of the cake, rendering it sweet, but not sickly sweet. The butter and cream cheese, too, are proportioned such that neither one is dominant in flavour, which I think is really quite special. And, finally, the raspberry jam between the layers lends fruitiness, acidity, and a supplementary texture, not to mention it looks so pretty! This cake is perfect for a special occasion, such as a birthday, bridal shower, wedding, Mother's Day, or even Easter. Or, simply, just to bring a little ray of sunshine into your day! I hope that this recipe brings delight to your senses, and the opportunity to have fun playing with your artistic creativity.
Recipe:
Makes 1 6-inch cake
This recipe was adapted from The Brick Kitchen, who adapted it from The Caker.
Notes
You can easily make this cake gluten free by subbing out the 75 g of flour for GF flour. I like Bob's Red Mill. Shockingly, you can't taste the difference (because it's so little). If you do this, you MUST line your tins with parchment paper (then grease them), however, as the GF flour will stick if you simply butter and flour them. You will also need to add an extra 2-3 minutes of baking time.
Sorry for the random shots of the cake! This was the first recipe that I ever photographed for this blog, and I'm in the process of re-doing the older ones. So enjoy the mishmash for now! Baby shower version and all.
I specify the type of salt used, as different salts are more or less salty than others. If you don’t have the same kind of salt used, be mindful of this and adjust accordingly. Generally speaking, pink Himalayan salt is less salty than most others.
I recommend using the measurements in grams, as this doesn’t allow for human error, such as packing the ingredients more or less tightly. They are provided, however, for those without a scale.
Top tip for room-temperature eggs: if ever you don’t have the time to take them out of the fridge early enough, or yet if you forget, you can place them in a bowl covered with hot water for 5 minutes, and they will become room-temperature just like that!
This cake is so much fun to decorate! A notes on the decorating. I sometimes like to let the cake peak through less than as is pictured (I like to switch it up), and there is enough buttercream for that.
Almond Cake
Ingredients
75 g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour (or GF flour - see notes)
300 g (~2 1/2 cups packed) ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp pure almond extract
zest of 1 organic lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice (this was just under 2 lemons for me)
300 g (~1 1/3 cups) unsalted butter, room-temperature
300 g (~1 1/2 cups) sugar
6 eggs, room-temperature
24 raspberries, fresh or frozen
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and ensure that oven rack is positioned in the middle.
Butter and flour 3 6-inch baking tins.
Sift flour into a medium bowl. Add in ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. Combine ingredients with a spatula or whisk.
In a small bowl, add vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. No need to mix together.
In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat on high speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.
Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture, one at a time. Beat on high for 45 seconds after each addition.
Add in dry mixture (in one go), and combine on low speed. Do not over mix.
Add in extract and lemon mixture, and combine on low speed. Do not over mix.
Formal instruction: smell the finished batter. It’s the best smell in the world!
Pour batter evenly into the 3 cake tins. If you feel like being very precise, you can use a kitchen scale.
Place 8 raspberries in each tin. I make a circle with 7, then add 1 in the very centre. Push them down a little with your finger into the batter, so that the top of each one is roughly level with the batter level.
Place cake tins in the oven, and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out virtually crumbless. Although mine took 35 minutes, depending on your oven, this could take a fair bit longer, and your crust could be very browned. Not to worry, this has happened to me before, and it’s delicious and tastes caramelized. If you're new to baking—if the toothpick comes out with wet batter, or many wet crumbs, let it bake for 2-3 more minutes, and repeat the process until this is no longer the case.
Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then remove from tins and let them cool completely on cooling racks.
Lemon Buttercream
*Note: this quantity makes enough buttercream to cover the cake entirely (in the photos, you can see that I opted to make a naked cake, but I had a little more buttercream for if I had wanted a thicker, opaque, layer). You will not have more buttercream to add any piped accents or palette knife work though. If you want a little extra buttercream to decorate with, increase the quantities by: 80 g butter, 120 g powdered sugar, 60 g cream cheese, 3/4 tsp vanilla extract, zest of 1/3 of a small lemon or 1/4 of a large one, small pinch of salt.
Ingredients
225 g unsalted butter, room-temperature
330 g powdered sugar
150 g cream cheese, room-temperature
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Zest of 2 medium organic lemons
1/8 tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
Instructions
Place butter in a large bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.
Sift in powdered sugar, and beat on high for 3 more minutes.
Still beating on high speed, add in cream cheese, tablespoon by tablespoon. Beat for a whole minute after the final addition of cream cheese.
Add in vanilla extract, lemon zest, and salt, and beat in until just combined (I do this on medium-low). Note: I am detailing this for those like me, who would normally taste the buttercream and adjust accordingly at this time. The oils of the lemon zest will release over the time that it takes to assemble the cake. Therefore, the lemon flavour will intensify in the coming tens of minutes. Unless you want a very intense flavour, don’t add more zest. I find the zest of 2 to be perfect and balanced with the other flavours in the cake.
Assembly
Ingredients
8 tbsp raspberry jam (natural ingredients or organic)
Whatever you would like to decorate.
Instructions
If your cake layers have risen more in the middle than the sides, level them off with a serrated knife. They may not need this step with this cake.
Put a dollop of buttercream (about a tablespoon) in the centre of the cake stand, and then place the first cake layer on it.
Top with a couple of large dollops of buttercream (for those who don’t feel comfortable eyeballing this—I used 120 g). Using an offset spatula or butterknife, disperse buttercream into an even layer across the cake. Next, pipe a ring around the outermost line of the cake. You are creating a "well" for the jam. Repeat these steps with your second layer of cake (just keep it on a plate for now). Refrigerate both of these cake layers for 30 minutes, to firm up your "wells".
Remove your two cake layers from the fridge. Fill each "well" up to the top (with 4 tbsp of jam), and evenly spread it out.
Gently place the second cake layer on top of the first, buttercream/jam side facing up. Top with the third cake layer, cut side down.
Optional step to crumb-coat the cake. For those new to baking—this means spreading a thin layer of icing on the outside of the cake, to “catch the crumbs”. The cake is then put back in the fridge for another 20 minutes before adding the rest of the icing. The goal is for the crumbs to not get into the exterior layer of icing and be visible. It’s for aesthetic purposes, but will also make applying the final coat easier, as the cake will be fully stable to work with.
Spread remaining buttercream around the sides and top of the cake. I like to start with an offset spatula (or piping bag), and then take over with an icing smoother (also called a scraper).
Refrigerate cake for another 30 minutes to solidify the buttercream, and then decorate the top as desired.
This cake is best served straight out of the fridge (or out for only 30 minutes or so), as it has a special moist consistency which it best chilled. I therefore recommend chilling it for at least another hour before serving. It is wonderful the day that it is made, but it is one of those cakes that becomes even more spectacular in flavour and texture in the following 1-3 days.
Enjoy!
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