Orange Almond Cake (GF)
Photos by Greg Nesbit Photography
This moist, flavorful, and versatile cake has been one of my favorites since my sous-pastry chef shared it with me many years ago at Lespinasse. I’ve used it in countless wedding cakes, as a stand-alone tea cake, and as a component in mousse tortes or as a shortcake. I knew it would easily adapt to gluten-free flour, as it doesn’t have a large amount of flour to begin with, due to the large amount of almond paste in the recipe. It is just as fabulous, and you could never tell, thanks to Jeanne’s blend, that it is gluten-free *
* If you’re not interested in gluten-free baking, the original recipe called for the same amount of cake flour, so go ahead and change it back!
Orange-Almond Cake
preheat oven 325F
line 2 8″ cake pans with parchment
5 oz almond paste
2/3 c sugar
zest 1 orange
3 eggs
4 oz soft butter
1/2 c Jeanne’s gluten free blend
3/4 t baking powder
pinch salt
I use a stand mixer with a flat beater for this recipe. You can do it by hand, or even in a food processor, but the secret is to blend the sugar, almond paste, and butter really well and get them super fluffy together, so the stand mixer is ideal.
Place the sugar and almond paste in the bowl and mix to crumble up the almond paste. Add in the soft butter, and the orange zest. When smooth, start adding in the eggs one at a time, very gradually. By the time you finish the mix should have doubled in volume and smell fabulous.
Fold in the dry ingredients; I like to sift them through a strainer over the bowl to make sure there’s no lumps anywhere.
Spread into prepared pans and bake about 18 mins, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool completely. You can freeze the layers, wrapped separately.
To serve, a beautiful and simple way to enjoy the cake is to whip some fresh cream with a dash of vanilla and a tiny touch of sugar, and mix some seasonal berries with a bit of sugar and splash of booze: I use Raspberry liqueur or Grand Marnier often. A perfect seasonal and make-ahead dessert!
