Splendid Simplicity and an almond cake…

I’m not sure where the theory for “Spring” cleaning came from. Come spring, I find I want to get outdoors and enjoy the warmer weather and blooming flowers. For me, January and February is the right time to dig in, clean out, organize and simplify. After all of the excesses over the holidays, I love this opportunity to get things under control and back into some sort of order, or re~order.

Right now, I am working on repurposing a storage/ playroom into sort of a storage/ dressing room for my daughter. Chrome garment racks are replacing the American Girl doll furniture and a dusty stack of boxed up toys will be making way for a full length mirror. It’s a a bittersweet process for sure, but I’m trying to focus on the enjoyable feeling of being liberated of the “stuff” that is just taking up space and sharing it with others to be used and enjoyed. Yesterday I brought a carload of said “stuff” to the Goodwill, I feel like this is a great win~win situation given the excellent job training that Goodwill provides for people who otherwise may not be able to find a job.

So, how does this all lead to almond cake, you may wonder?

The other day, when we learned we were in charge of bringing a dessert, my tennis partner asked me to bring my almond cake to a match. At first I balked at the notion, saying I was way to busy to bake a cake. But then I remembered how purely delicious this cake is, not too sweet, but rich in simple almond flavor and goodness. The almond paste helps to create a wonderfully moist and dense cake and the thin crust that forms on the outside is delightfully crunchy and crumbly. Best of all, there’s no need to frost this cake, it’s simply delicious on it’s own. It’s quintenesently compatible with a latte for breakfast; a glass of sherry after dinner or a cup of warm milk for a midnight snack.

When I considered the amount of time it would take for me to go to the store, buy something, and then bring it home and make it look presentable, I realized I could probably make the cake in the same amount of time, while making a wintertime favorite meal for dinner, roast chicken. Of course, when my daughter heard what I was making, she said, “Oh good, do we get some too?”. So I doubled the recipe, and I recommend you do too, it keeps a few days and it’s a nice thing to share.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe by the glorious Giada de Laurenti, it takes about 20 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to bake.

Almond Cake

serves 6~8

Ingredients

1/2 cup fine yellow corn meal or almond meal {you can find it at Trader Joe’s or grind almonds in a food processor}

1/2 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick {4 ounces} salted butter, softened

1/3 cup almond paste, cut into half~inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1~1/4 cups confectioners sugar, plus more for dusting

4 egg yolks

2 eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour and 8-inch round cake pan. I like using these spring form pans, because you can easily release the cake from the pan so it makes a nicer presentation on the plate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal or almond meal, cake flour and baking powder. Using a stand up mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to high and add the egg yolks and whole eggs. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream, almond extract and dry ingredients until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and swirl the batter around to even out the thickness {it will spread out and fill the edges of the pan as it heats up}. Bake in the lower 1/3 of the oven for 35 minutes or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

The powdered sugar dusting doesn’t add much sweetness, the purpose of it is to make the cake look prettier, and a little more finished. A little white dusting is a great way to make pancakes or sweet rolls look more polished as well, and it’s a good trick for concealing any cracks or blemishes on a dessert.

Even though I am in the purging mode, here is something I think you should get if you don’t already have one. This little powdered sugar shaker makes it so easy to do a quick powdered sugar dusting when you need to. It’s SO much easier than getting out the powdered sugar, the sifter, spooning sugar in sifter, and clanging the spoon agains the sifter to dust the cake, and theres nothing extra to clean~up!