An almond cake perfect for spring and summer

This recipe comes to us from Carla Snyder, author of One Pan, Two Plates: More Than 70 Complete Weeknight Meals for Two and blogger at ravenouskitchen.com. Obviously, we couldn’t resist featuring the recipe for it’s impressive lineup of aphrodisiac ingredients. But Carla has managed to make the recipe even more tempting.

Why you should be eating more almond cake

In fact, she promises to make this cake your new best friend. Why? We’ll let Carla explain: “There are many reasons to become better acquainted with Almond Cake. First off, unlike your favorite cashmere scarf he’s as deliciously adaptable in the heat of summer as in the throes of winter. I’ve paired him up with winter strawberries doctored up with balsamic and honey but any juicy fruit would do. He gets along with all your fruity friends.” And just to drive it home, she adds, “Almond Cake will seduce with his bedroom eyes and smooth Barry White baritone and say “Oh, baby, baby” at the very first bite making it almost impossible to stop at just one rich slice. Like many of our besties he can be a bit of a bad influence at times.” Seriously? You need to get baking!

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Almond Cake with Honey Balsamic Strawberries

This Almond Cake is a taste of spring. You won't believe how balsamic will accentuate the flavor peak-of-ripeness strawberries. And you'll love how their sweet tang balances with the cake's slightly earthy, mellow flavor. 

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Almond Cake

Dish Type: cake

Cooking Style: Baking

Seasonal: Easter, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Mother's Day, spring

Ingredient: strawberry

Servings: 9 -12 servings

Created by: Carla Snyder

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 8-oz can almond paste broken into pieces
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened, 1 stick
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/gas 6.
2. Butter a 9-inch/23 cm-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides.
3. Line the pan with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit and butter and flour the paper.
4. Pulse the sugar and almond paste together in a food processor until they are finely blended. Toss in butter, zest and vanilla and pulse again until smooth.
5. Turn on the processor and add the eggs one at a time.
6. Remove the lid and add the flour, baking powder and salt and pulse a few more times just until blended.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
8. Bake the cake in the preheated oven until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
9. Cool the pan on a rack for about 30 minutes, then loosen the sides with a knife, invert it onto a serving plate and peel off the parchment.