almond cake

i love almond cake and this recipe, from epicurious, makes for a splendid one.  not only is it ridiculously moist but fragrant too thanks to the citrus zest.  guys, it's so good.  i'm one lucky lady, i ask and my hubby delivers... happy birthday stefan, you're the best!  let's make this again on the weekend :-)

almond cake

ingredients you will need:

1/2 pound (1 3/4 cups) blanched whole almonds

6 large eggs, separated

1 1/4 cups superfine sugar

grated zest of 1 orange

grated zest of 1 lemon

4 drops almond extract

confectioners' sugar for dusting

what to do:

finely grind the almonds in a food processor.  note: stefan used ground almonds from the supermarket since he couldn't find whole blanched almonds but it came out just fine, lots of flavour.

with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar to a smooth pale cream.  beat in the zests and almond extract.  add the ground almonds and mix very well.

with clean beaters, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.  fold them into the egg and almond mixture (the mixture is thick, so that you will need to turn it over quite a bit into the egg whites).

grease an 11-inch springform pan, preferably nonstick, with butter and dust it with flour.  pour in the cake batter, and bake into a preheated 350 farenheit oven for 40 minutes, or until it feel firm to the touch.  let cool before turning out.

just before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar.  

enjoy!