Dorie Greenspan's Easy Almond Cake #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: You saw the meatloaf I made last week for a friend's "new job, new life" celebration. I wanted to make a cake too, but nothing too labor intensive. 

Sometimes the idea of what to make comes together by happenstance. In this instance, I was browsing through the cookbook my daughter gave me for Christmas, Dorie Greenspan's BAKING CHEZ MOI. And there I saw a simple almond cake. And then in the grocery store I found a bag of Bob's Red Mill ground almond flour. The coincidence could not be ignored (as often happens in a mystery novel too.)  This cake has few ingredients and isn't much trouble, unless you are wrestling with your oven temperature as I have been. My oven was a little too hot and the top browned too quickly so I had to take it out earlier than I would have liked. Hence the cake was a little flat, though still delicious. I bet yours will look even better! Ingredients Five large eggs, separated 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract  1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups almond flour When the eggs are at room temperature and nicely separated, whisk the yolks with the sugar, holding back 2 tablespoons to whip with the whites. When the yolks are light and thick, mix in the vanilla extract.  In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a clean metal bowl, beat the whites with the salt for about a minute. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top and continue to beat until the whites stand up, stopping before they get completely stiff.   Mix a quarter of the whites into the yolk mixture. Then stir that mixture in with the rest of the whites and sprinkle half of the almond flour over top. Now mix everything together gently, add the remaining almond flour and again, mix thoroughly but gently. Scrape the batter into a prepared 9 inch cake pan. (You will have buttered the bottom and sides of the pan, then covered the bottom with parchment paper, and buttered that too.)  Shake the batter gently so it settles. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. The top should be browning and the sides pulling away from the pan. The top should spring back after being touched.  Let the cake rest for five minutes on a rack, then run a knife around the edge and invert the pan onto a plate. Remove the parchment paper and allow it to cool. I served this with mango purée, fresh mangoes and ice cream of the diner's choice. It was light and delicious, thank you to Dorie! It also tasted great plain the next day--with a subtle nutty taste and texture. PS, this cake is gluten-free, because it uses almond instead of regular flour. I've made other delicious almond desserts here in the past, if you'd like to look them over: David Lebovitz's almond cake (made with paste), glazed orange-almond sponge cake (yum!), and almond cloud cookies.

When she's not eating, cooking, or blogging, Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series.
 
 Fatal Reservations, the sixth book in the series, will be in bookstores on July 7, but you can certainly order it now!

Orange Almond Sponge Cake with Orange Glaze @LucyBurdette #recipe

LUCY BURDETTE: You've probably heard me mention a hundred times my favorite bakery in Guilford CT called Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Everything they make is exquisite, but one of my favorite treats is an orange flavored angel cake with a lemon glaze. 

For your Mother's Day pleasure, I wanted to try to replicate something like that, but including almond flavor and an orange glaze. As you'll see, though there is plenty of sugar in the recipe, there is not one whisker of fat!

Ingredients

6 eggs
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 tsp grated orange rind
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract

For the glaze:

3 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Grate the rind of a well-washed orange until you get 2 teaspoons, more or less. (I used a Honeybell.) Then squeeze the orange, using a second if needed, to make 1/2 cup. (You will use 1/3 of this for the cake, and the remainder for the glaze.)



In large bowl, place the egg whites with the cream of tartar and beat them with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. (You can test this by slowly withdrawing the beaters from the eggs. Soft peaks should stand up with the slightest droop at the top.) Next, gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating until whites are stiff but not dry.

In another large bowl, place separated yolks. Beat them with unwashed beaters until thick. Add remaining sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until the yolks are very thick and ivory colored.

To the beaten yolks, add the grated orange rind and the orange juice and almond flavoring, beating until just blended.

Beat in flour and ground almonds at a very low speed. Add the beaten egg whites to this mixture, and fold them in with a rubber spatula--gently.

Turn the cake batter into ungreased 10" tube pan. Cut through batter several times with a knife to break up any air bubbles and then smooth the top.
Bake at 325F for about fifty minutes. The top will appear golden and the cake should spring back when lightly touched.

Invert on wire rack to cool. Loosen cake from sides of pan with spatula. 

Set on serving plate.

Whisk together the orange juice, powdered sugar, and vanilla until very smooth. Drizzle this over the cooled cake.  My glaze did not sit prettily on the outside of the cake, but it gave the sponge an extra delicious pocket of flavor!

Serve on a pretty plate and watch them swoon!

MURDER WITH GANACHE, the fourth Key West mystery, is in stores now!

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