This almond cake comes from one of my favourite books from my cookbook collection: Casa Moro by Sam and Sam Clark ( a husband and wife duo who amusingly share the same name). The reason why it is one of my favourites is because the Moroccan/Spanish recipes are so full of flavour, gutsy, yet simple and comforting too – kind of like my Italian style cooking, yet with different spices and ingredients. There’s lots of paprika, preserved lemon, cumin, peppers, pomegranate and sherry. Those flavours that add sweetness and punch to all kinds of dishes from meat to vegetables.
But when I grabbed the book off the shelf in my 2019 goal of cooking more from my ridiculously large cook-book collection, this simple recipe for almond cake, Pastel de Almendras, jumped out at me and had to be made. It’s incredibly simple (my kind of recipe), really quick to make and I was especially intrigued by the use of extra-virgin olive oil in the ingredients list (usually a no-go for me as my past attempts at using it in baking have not been successful).
Now, the recipe in the book asks for you to grind your own blanched almonds, leaving some a little coarse for texture. I cheated and used store-bought almond meal, which was much easier and still gave a great result. Perhaps by using ground almonds that were a little more coarse you would get a crunchier texture, so if you have the time, grind your own. The recipe also asked for light brown sugar which I didn’t have, so I just used dark brown.
The method itself is really simple, tip the oil, sugar and eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk for around 10 minutes, in which time the mixture will be thick and creamy and almost double in volume. Then fold in most of the almond meal and flour until smooth, being careful to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Tip into an oiled flan or pie dish, sprinkle with leftover almond meal and bake for 20 minutes. I was quite surprised that the cake rose a little (there’s no actual rising agent in the ingredients, but that whisking of the eggs at the beginning makes all the difference) and looked beautiful and fluffy.
OK, so what about taste? The cake is moist, yet light enough to resemble a kind of rich sponge-cake. I actually think the dark brown sugar gave this cake a real caramel flavour, which I really love, as opposed to the light brown it was meant to have. However, there was a taste, a certain something that just wasn’t right. I asked my sons to taste it and they both screwed up their faces saying “what’s that weird taste?” It was the extra-virgin olive oil. The strong grassy flavour overpowers everything. I should have known, I always use either a neutral tasting oil or light olive oil when I bake. Now I’m not criticising the original recipe, but perhaps it’s the kind of extra-virgin olive oil you can get your hands on that makes the difference. The one Sam and Sam Clark used from Spain, could have a totally different flavour to the Italian one I use and would give a very different result.
So I made it again – this time using a light tasting olive oil and the addition of vanilla extract just in case the olive oil taste permeated through again. It was perfect. Dense, yet light, moist and sweet, but not in a sickly sweet way you often get from almond cakes. The ground almonds over the top give a nice toasty flavour, and I must admit if I were to make it again I might grind a good handful of almonds to scatter over the top, instead of the finely ground ones you see in the pic, for a bit of extra crunchy flavour. Apparently Sam and Sam Clark were served their almond cake from a friend who lives near them in a little Spanish village who accompanied it with local wild rosemary, thyme and rosebuds. This tells me they prefer a more savoury-style cake. I think mine is a little sweeter, and I think a drizzle of honey, or a blob of thick cream would be the right accompaniment for me.
So not only am I happy to have whipped up this beautiful cake and added it to my repertoire,I have officially begun my cook-book challenge for 2019 and have finally cooked something from one of the many books sitting on my shelf that have ashamedly never been used. There is another recipe from Casa Moro I want to make, a beautiful stew with oxtail, sherry and chorizo – but I might save it for the cooler months (it is 43 degrees today and a hearty slow cooked stew will not do!). I look forward to sharing more of my cook-book collection with you.
Almond Cake
Adapted from the recipe Pastel De Almendras from the cook-book Casa Moro by Sam and Sam Clark
Ingredients:
150ml light olive oil or a neutral flavoured oil (such as sunflower oil)
165g dark brown sugar
4 eggs
200g almond meal
100g plain flour, sifted
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 C (or 160 C fan forced).
Grease a 24 – 26cm pie dish (not the loose bottom kind) or flan tin.
Combine the olive oil, sugar and eggs into a bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk for 10 – 15 minutes on medium-high speed, or until mixture is thick and fluffy. The mixture will be a medium caramel colour, much paler than it was when you started mixing and appear to be around double the volume.
Gently fold almost all the almond meal (reserve a good handful for later) in two batches, then the flour, trying to keep as much air in the batter as possible.
Pour mixture into your prepared dish/tin and sprinkle the remaining almond meal over the top.
Cook for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and set.
Allow to cool before slicing and serving.
Serves 6 – 8
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