November 25, 2010

Simple Almond cake from Andalucia: Tartes de Almendres de Andalucia

Looking for a simple cake for Thanksgiving or something to please a no-gluten glutton? Here is a recipe from the Spanish trio of Kim Schiffer, Ashley Mulligan in Mallora and myself from the last program in Spain that we did together. Be sure to check it out for next year! www.peggymarkel.com

This almond cake rocks my socks~ it's easy and delicious..that is if you have almonds on hand or happen to have a place to buy almond flour. Bob's Red Mill has a nice one~ but not cheap~ 13.99 for 1 lb bag. But almonds are not cheap either and take a while to blanch, skin and grind. Depends on the day, right? Cheaper than champagne.













Tartes de Almendres de Andalucia

Butter for the pan
Flour (use almond) for the pan
2 cups of ground blanched almonds
1 cup of sugar (or alternative~ honey, etc.)
9 eggs
1/2 t cinnamon
Zest of one orange or lemon
Use confectioner's sugar for dusting or use jam or orange marmalade.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and dust a 9 in. spring-form pan and shake off excess.
Grind the almonds to a powder (or use pre-ground), set aside.
Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the whites to a stiff peak and set aside.
Beat yolks and sugar together until thick and light in color. A standing mixer is best.
Add cinnamon and zest. Add the almond flour and mix well.
Fold in the beaten egg whites. 
Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on
a rack. Undo the sides and present the cake dusted or topped with marmalade.

4 comments:

G. Edison said...

Hmmm ... this is not exactly the recipe that Ashley gave us in Ferreirola. Similar but different.

peggy markel said...

I spoke with Ashley in Mallorca to discuss this very subject. 300grams of almond flour to 300 grams of sugar is close to 2 cups to 1 flour to sugar.
Eggs are always worth discussing, as eggs in Europe always seem to be smaller. the Italians typically don't
measure anything, but do like to talk about the size of eggs. I used 7 to her 9 and I think it came out fine.
What have you been using?

Kirsten said...

This looks lovely! I can't wait to try out this recipe! Thanks...

G. Edison said...

Wooh ... long time to take to answer your question, Peggy. Now I have tried both recipes, and not knowing much about the relative size of eggs in Italy/Europe to the ones we tend to get here -- other than what you wrote! -- I am finding I like the 2C almond flour to 1C sugar (or a bit less, for a less sweet cake) and 7 eggs approach. Sometimes I separate around 5 of the eggs, and beat the egg whites, so I get a little extra fluffiness. Depends on how much time I have. I don't feel I have to separate all the eggs on this one. Thanks for sharing the simplified version of the recipe here!

Otherwise, am also playing with adding some different ingredients, like cocoa powder (unsweetened and no dried milk (none at all really)), and various different spices. So, adulterating a bit here and there, and getting positive reviews on most of the results. Fun and easy recipe and easy one to play with.