Best Ever Moist Almond Cake
This almond cake has a moist, velvety crumb, and it's perfect to serve plain with powdered sugar and fresh fruit, with or without a creamy glaze on top. This cake is easily made gluten-free by substituting a gluten-free flour blend for the all purpose.
Ingredients
Makes one 9-inch cake
- 1 cup (130 g) all purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 7-ounce (212 g) tube almond paste crumbled into small pieces
- 1 ¼ cups (275 g) granulated sugar
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) room temperature unsalted butter
- 4 lightly beaten room temperature eggs
Topping
- 4 ounces (125 g) cream cheese room temperature
- 3 tablespoons (45 g) softened butter
- 1 ¼ cups (150 g) powdered sugar sifted through a mesh strainer if lumpy
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 cups (444 g) mixed blueberries raspberries and sliced strawberries
Instructions
Almond Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Whisk 1 cup all purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend cup and ½ teaspoon fine sea saltn a small bowl.
- Pulse 1 7-ounce tube almond paste in a food processor until it's broken into even pieces. Add 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar and process for 30 seconds, until the mixture appears fine and sandy textured.
- Add 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) room temperature unsalted butter and process for a full 2 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the work bowl if necessary.
- With the machine running, slowly dribble in 4 lightly beaten room temperature eggs. Your goal at this point is to emulsify the batter until it becomes thick, blended and creamy.
- Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl. Place a strainer over the bowl and sift the flour mixture over the batter. Fold gently to mix, just until the flour is incorporated.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and the top springs back lightly.
- Cool the cake 20 minutes, then release the sides of the pan and cool completely on a rack.
Make the topping
- Beat 4 ounces cream cheese and 3 tablespoons softened butter in a stand mixer on medium speed with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon salt and beat until creamy. Refrigerate until it's time to serve the cake.
- Spread the topping over the cake and decorate the top of the cake with 1-2 cups mixed blueberries. Slice into wedges to serve.
Notes
- If you'd like to use almond flour, I suggest substituting half the amount of all purpose flour (1/2 cup) with almond flour. Because the cake is based on almond paste, using all almond flour would make a very dense cake.
- Wait until the cake is completely cool before topping with the icing. After icing, the cake can be lightly covered with plastic and refrigerated, but add the berries just before serving.
- Serving ideas: Instead of berries and the glaze I used, you can decorate the cake with lightly sweetened sour cream or simply with powdered sugar and sliced almonds.
- Store the plain cake (without icing) at room temperature, wrapped in plastic for 3-4 days. Refrigerate the iced cake one day.
Nutrition
Calories: 425kcalCarbohydrates: 77gProtein: 6gFat: 12gSodium: 423mgFiber: 2gSugar: 61g
