When I was a kid, I’d bring my mom breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day. To me, that seemed like the best gift ever – a meal right there in your bed! How great is that? The memories are a little hazy after all these years but in the beginning I think I made burnt toast and juice out of can and considered it quite plush. (Hey, I was young.) I’m sure I made cinnamon rolls out of a can too. It was the 70’s – things out of cans were big. As I got older, the menu became more complicated – freshly squeezed juice, deviled eggs and quiche. God love my mom who feigned surprise each year (after waiting a few hours for me to get it all together) then happily got up and cleaned the kitchen. What a woman. Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
If I had known about this almond cake then, I most certainly would have included it in my Mother’s Day breakfasts. I know my mom would love it. Honestly, it’s just wonderful – moist, lots of almond flavor, a hind of citrus and an additive crackly sugar glaze. It keeps well, quickly becomes everyone’s favorite and is easy to make. It’s become a regular in my baking repertoire – I bet I’ve made this cake 500 times. In fact, my best friend refers to it as “THE cake” as in “Hey, can you bring THE cake for dinner?” I know exactly what she’s talking about.
room temp ingredients are key for a smooth batter
Have you every had a recipe follow you? One that seems to pop up every time you turn around? This is mine. The first time I saw the recipe was in Flo Braker’s The Perfect Art of Simple Baking then again in the Tartine cookbook and then shortly thereafter, I had a piece at a local bakery. This cake was stalking me. When I commented on how delicious it was, the counterperson casually threw out “Oh we love that cake! The owner used to work at a bakery in San Francisco. Tart something.” Well there you go. It was a sign and I needed to listen to it.
ready for the oven
To be honest, something else coincided with making this recipe. Something bigger and more pressing than a persistent recipe. You see, I found myself the unsuspecting owner of 7 pounds of almond paste. This happens to me a lot. I’m often “gifted” with things, clean out inventory shelves and have to deal with the extras or receive samples. Oh I’m not complaining at all but it really starts to pile up. But 7 pounds of almond paste bordered on ridiculous and it’s happened twice. That’s a lot of almond paste. Good thing it keeps, frozen, for a long time and that I have friends that welcome ingredient gifts (I gave a few pounds to my pal Caroline over at Whipped along with this recipe and she loves it too!
The simple fact that this recipes uses just under a ½ pound of almond paste is what really compelled me to make this cake. Sure it was the kind of recipe I knew, just by reading, would be delicious but that it would use a good chunk of my inventory really propelled me forward. Almond paste, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, citrus – how could this not be good?
glazing
Oh and it is good. So very very good. This cake is beyond easy but the key thing to remember is to have the almond paste and butter at room temperature. If it’s not, the almond paste won’t break up and mix smoothly and you’ll be left with little clumps in your batter. Definitely not ideal.
As for the citrus, you can use any combination you like. I often use lemon/orange as written here but have done variations of lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, Meyer lemon and grapefruit. All work perfectly but I’ve found with a sweeter citrus like grapefruit, it’s better combined with a little lemon juice for some tartness.
I think the best part of this cake is the glaze. Simply mix the juice with regular ‘ol sugar and brush the cake while it’s warm. Don’t heat the glaze, in fact, don’t do anything but give it a good stir. The sugar crystallizes on the warm cake leaving a tart crunchy coating that is quite addictive.
STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR: TWO THUMBS UP. It’s wonderful, it’s delicious, it keeps forever and it’s for mom. Once again, baking for someone else takes the literal cake. This will be something you make again and again.
glazed and ready to slice
ALMOND TEA CAKE
(from Tartine by Elisabeth Prueitt & Chad Robertson AND The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker)
Makes one 10″ bundt cake that serves a bunch. I usually make two smaller bundt cakes because they’re easier to share and because my large bundt pan is a piece of crap.
for the cake:
¾ cup sifted unbleached all-purpose flour (sift then measure)
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup almond paste, room temperature (7 ounces)
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest
for the glaze:
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons orange juice
¾ cup sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, place a rack in lower third.
- Butter and flour a 10” bundt or tube pan well, especially the bottom. (Note: sometimes I skip this and just spray the pan really well with cooking spray. I have a 50% success rate in getting the cake out clean with this method. You think I’d learn to just butter/flour the damn thing.)
- Sift dry ingredients together twice; set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine eggs and vanilla; set aside
- In mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat room temperature almond paste on low until it breaks up into very small pieces.
- Increase the speed to medium slowly add sugar and beat until incorporated.
- With the mixer running on medium speed, add room temperature butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time.
- Increase the speed to med-high and beat until fluffy, smooth and incorporated.
- Add the eggs/vanilla in a steady stream.
- Add the citrus zest and the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Fill prepared pan, smooth batter and bake 45-50 minutes until golden brown and wooden skewer comes out with moist crumbs.
- Cool in pan 5 minutes then turn out on a wire rack set over foil or parchment paper to catch any drips.
- Meanwhile, combine glaze ingredients (sugar, citrus juice.) Stir well – DO NOT HEAT.
- With a pastry brush, glaze cake while hot making sure to get the sides as well as the top. Let cool completely.
- Cake will keep for several days tightly wrapped.
STRESSCAKE 
I think I may just have a few blocks of almond paste left in the freezer… I am breaking one out. I’m drooling just thinking about it.
well if you need more, you give me a shout. I think I have about 5lbs left …
Why am I not eating that right now?
come on over … I have two on my dining room table 🙂
THE cake sounds divine. I can vividly imagine biting down on that crunchy, sugary glaze. I did that breakfast in bed thing for my Mom too, while she pretended to be sleeping.
Hey, can I have some of that almond paste? Feel free to deliver it baked into the cake. 🙂
oh you mean THE cake? You betcha!
I used to love those little “suprise” Mother’s Day breakfasts. The best one was the year she scrambled a dozen eggs (the dog was estatic) and made coffee. The spoon literally stood up by itself in the cup. First time I ever had to chew coffee. I was wired for a week.
This sounds like the perfect “oh damn I’ve got to take something to work” recipe. Easy, tastey and sturdy enough to cart around. Thanks for another great recipe.
Geez, I don’t remember that at all. My culinary skills have greatly improved 🙂
I did breakfast in bed for my mom this year, even though i’m 38 yrs old ( I stay with her beacuse she’s medically challenged).
I made strawberry bread with strawberry butter. Had I seen this recipe though it would have been the one to make!
It goes into the file for next year’s MD breakfast-in-bed. Thank you for sharing your memory and recipes.
Hi
What’s the proper way to wrap and freeze almond paste, so it won’t get freezer burned.
I wrap it really tightly in plastic wrap then into a ziplic freezer bag. I found a chunk the other day that was older than most peoples kids. It was fine.
I love almond paste in cakes and this one sounds divine with all that citrus zest too.
I made dinner for my mom on Mothers Day and it turned out delicious, and was easier than breakfast. Do you think using almond flour would be good in the cake? Would it be, you know… more almond-y?
This, like everything else on your site, looks so good! I am a complete baking novice though- where can one find almond paste? Is it commonly stocked in groceries or should I look for a specialty store? Finally, do you suggest a particular brand or type?
Thanks so much for your help!
Oh this is easy! And you can usually find almond paste on both grocery or specialty stores – look in the baking aisle. In grocery, most stores sell “Solo” brand in a can. It’s usually by the cans of fruit fillings. Specialty stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods usually carry a brand called “Odense” (or something like that) that’s in a rube in a box. The difference between the two is price and a slightly higher quality in the Odense. Store at room temp until opened, then tightly wrap and freeze and it’ll keep forever. I’m sure there are other brand out there, these are just the two I’m most familiar with at retail. All else fails, google a recipe and make it yourself.
I love finding recipes on blogs, but one of my pet peeves is that all the comments are about how good a recipe LOOKS, and not how it turned out. Well I am here to say I made it and it is fabulous. I was searching for a recipe that made similar tea cakes to ones you can purchase at our 24/7 french bakery in Charlotte, NC called Amelie’s. This was very similar but perhaps a little more almondy which was just fine. My husband drooled. And had seconds. And thirds. It was great warm out of the pan with no glaze. I couldn’t even fend him off long enough to make it and it didn’t matter really. My only problem? I couldn’t ever get it out of the bundt pan. I usually use that Baker’s spray with the flour in it but because of your warning I tried buttering/flouring and it didn’t work. I would love to find a nice small moulded pan where I can make mini bite size cakes. Thanks so much for posting!!
I’m so glad! This is one deeeeelicious cake. In fact, my best friend refers to it as just “THE cake.” Yeah, it’s a pain to remove especially if your pan has a lot of little detail work. If you happen to leave a chunk behind, gently pry it out – in one piece if possible – and put it back together. Glazing the cake will help hold it in place. And do try the glaze – it adds a wonderful citrusy crunch that is rather addictive.
Hey there! this cake was tasty but had a super strong almond paste consistency, really chewy. Not sure if I prepared the paste correctly. Had no paddle attachment so i used the regular attachment on the mixer and it flung all the paste out of the bowl in large chunks! I tried to correct this by using a grater to get the paste in small pieces and followed the rest of the directions but it doesn’t look light and spongy like yours. Would a food processor have helped? thanks!
Huh. That’s odd but no worries, sometimes things just happen. OK, let’s see what we can do. First off, did you use the almond paste that comes in a tube or the Solo brand that comes in a can? I’ve had success with both but think the tube kinds works better for some reason. Most importantly, make sure the almond paste is room temperature – it’ll blend in more easily. Try putting all the sugar in the bowl and then adding the almond paste a small piece at a time; eventually on low speed it should come together. Low speed is key at this point – too fast and it will indeed fling everywhere. Have a little patience, it’ll get there. If the paste and sugar aren’t fully incorporated it will be clumpy and heavy in the final product. Also, make sure the butter is room temp as well. You want everything to blend very smoothly and if an ingredient is cold, it will stay in clumps. I wouldn’t go the food processor route as you need the mixer to incorporate air which a processor won’t do.
Don’t be discouraged – things happen. I burned the crap out of my pot yesterday making caramel. Doh! Do try it again – it’s a rather delicious cake.
Looks really delicious and light! I do have to make my own almond paste if I want to do this, I don’t recall seeing it in the baking shops.
Do you live in the US? You can find it in a can under the Solo brand in the baking aisle. Or Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods sells a type in a tube in the baking aisle – Odense is the brand name. Or you can always order it – Amazon has it.
I’m not sure how I found you. I’m not sure how I found this recipe. I’m pretty certain that it’s almost Christmas. The one thing I’m definitely sure of is this is the most delicious almond cake. My kitchen smells like heaven and I have one of those almost smug delighted smiles on my face. Thank you for a great recipe, Stresscake ! Merry Christmas to all.