French almond cake recipe
This cake is perfect served with a fruit compote, such as my apricot and lavender compote. The recipe is adapted from Geraldene Holt's wonderful book Cakes (Prospect Books, £18).
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 40 minutes
SERVES
Eight
INGREDIENTS
5 eggs, room temperature
200g caster sugar
1 tsp almond extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
200g ground almonds
30g plain flour
Icing sugar, to sift
METHOD
Separate the eggs and put the yolks and half the sugar into your mixer. Beat until light, pale and fluffy. Add the almond extract and lemon zest and beat a little more.
In another bowl beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. Add 2 tbsp of the remaining sugar and beat again until stiff and shiny, then beat in the rest of the sugar.
Using a metal spoon add two big spoonfuls of the whites to the batter to loosen it then fold in the rest. Fold in the almonds and flour.
Scrape into a buttered and base-lined 23cm springform tin, 6cm deep, and bake in an oven preheated to 180C/170C fan*/gas mark 4 for 40 minutes. The sponge should be coming away from the sides and the middle should spring back when pressed.
Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out and place the right way up on a cooling-rack. Once it is cool remove the paper and sift icing sugar over the top.
*Diana's conversion may differ slightly from the standard