It’s Friday, you’ve made it through another week, so go ahead and treat yourself with some sweets this weekend. If you missed Monday’s post, this week we are focusing on the novel Outline by Rachel Cusk. The first book in Cusk’s Outline trilogy, this novel centers around a recent divorcée who travels to Greece to teach a writing class. On Monday we made a recipe for chicken souvlaki, but today we are going with something a little sweeter. At the narrator’s final writing class in Greece, one of her students brings almond cakes to share with everyone.
“These were almond cakes, she said, that she had baked herself, from a recipe her grandmother had given her.”
Outline
I have never made an almond cake before, so I adapted this recipe from the blog Eat Live Happy. While I stuck with the same basic ingredients and amounts, I substituted grapefruit zest for lemon zest and amaretto for almond extract. I also made miniature cakes for sharing rather than one big cake, and I made a glaze with which to top the cakes.
So let’s get baking!
The Ingredients
- The dry ingredients. This recipe uses a combination of regular all-purpose flour and almond flour. Make sure you get almond flour and not almond meal. For accurate measurements, spoon the flour into the measuring cup without packing it down. Make sure you use baking powder and not baking soda.
- The liquids. Get your eggs out of the fridge a few hours before you are ready to bake to allow them to reach room temperature. You’ll be melting the butter, but it will be helpful to have a stick at room temperature to grease the pans.
- The sweet stuff. Along with sugar, this recipe includes vanilla extract and amaretto for flavoring. Amaretto is an almond-flavored liqueur. If you want you can substitute almond extract.
- The zest. Traditionally almond cake contains either lemon or orange zest, but I had a lot of grapefruits sitting around, and I thought the bittersweet flavor of the grapefruits would pair well with the flavor of the almonds. It is important, however, to blanch the grapefruit peel a few times before collecting the zest, so it is not overpoweringly bitter. The peel from one whole grapefruit should give you about 2 teaspoons of zest, which will be split evenly between the cake and the glaze.
- The glaze. I’ve included a recipe for a glaze that uses many of the same ingredients as the cake–butter, almond flour, vanilla extract, amaretto, and grapefruit zest–but also includes the addition of coconut oil (you can substitute shortening), milk, and powdered sugar. After drizzling the glaze on top of the cakes you will have extra leftover to dip the cake in while eating.
- The almonds. Almond slivers are added on top about halfway through the baking process, allowing them to turn a nice golden brown. The glaze helps the almonds to adhere to the cake.
The Recipe
Grease the pans. One batch makes enough for 3 mini loaf pans (about 6 in x 3.5 in x 2 in), but you can also make one large cake if you prefer. Using a stick of butter, rub the bottom and sides of each pan. Spoon a little flour into each pan and turn the pan until the entire inside has a light coating of flour.
Blanch the grapefruit. Remove peel from grapefruit, cutting into quarters. In a pan, pour cold water over the peels. Bring to a boil, pour out water, and repeat 2 more times, so the peel is blanched a total of 3 times.
Zest the grapefruit. Once the peels have cooled, squeeze them to remove excess water. I found the easiest way to zest them was to first use a potato peeler, then chop the slivers into smaller pieces, but feel free to use a grater if you prefer. Be careful to avoid getting the pith (the white part), as this will add too much bitterness.
Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
Combine the wet ingredients. Melt the butter in the microwave and pour into another large bowl. Add the sugar and whisk to combine. Whisk in the eggs. Add the vanilla extract, amaretto, and grapefruit zest and whisk to combine.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, stopping every so often to whisk everything together.
Pour into pans. Pour the batter into the pans and place in the oven. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
Make the glaze. While the cakes are baking, make the glaze. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low. Add the amaretto and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, then add the remaining glaze ingredients and stir until well combined.
Top the cakes. Drizzle glaze over the cakes, then top each cake with almond slivers. Return to oven and bake another 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Serve with remaining glaze for dipping! Enjoy the almond cakes and check back Monday for a new book and recipe, along with a fun holiday announcement!
