Post by suzanne on Feb 2, 2006 9:27:48 GMT -7
I have a great buttery almond pound cake recipe I make every year for my husband's birthday (today) at his request and thought I'd share it with you guys. It's easy to make, elegant, and doesn't need to be frosted. It is rich, but not too sweet.
I found the original Italian recipe in a cooking magazine but I lost the magazine, so I adapted a pound cake recipe, and this is as good as the original.
Almond Pound Cake
1/2 lb (225 g) butter, softened at room temperature
7 oz (200 g) almond paste (I get a Danish brand called "Odense" here in the US)
1 2/3 cup (325 g) sugar
5 eggs at room temperature
2 c (280 g) flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Italian ricotta cheese
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
Cocoa, cinnamon or colored sugar for decorating
Heat oven to 325 F/180 C. Cream together softened butter and sugar. Heat almond paste in microwave to soften it (be careful, it will burn - heat at 10-second intervals and check in between). Break almond paste into small pieces, add it to butter mixture. Add eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly after each egg. Batter will have pieces of almond paste in it - this is OK. Add half of flour, mix well, add other half, then salt and vanilla. Pour into greased, floured, round springform pan, smooth top of batter with large spoon or spatula, then bake for about an hour. A toothpick inserted in middle of cake will come out clean when it's done.
Cool for 10 min, remove from pan, let cool completely. Right before serving, mix ricotta and sugar (can add more or less sugar to taste), and pile the sweetened ricotta on top of the cake, about an inch from the edges (looks like a cloud on top of the cake). Sprinkle with cocoa, cinnamon, or colored sugar to decorate.
If you're really artsy, you can make the cake look like it did in the magazine picture, with caramelized sugar swirls and sugar-frosted berries and champagne grapes. But I'm not, so I take the lazy way out with cocoa. ;D
Store cake in refrigerator. Cake without ricotta on top can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days, wrapped well. Mangia bene!
I found the original Italian recipe in a cooking magazine but I lost the magazine, so I adapted a pound cake recipe, and this is as good as the original.
Almond Pound Cake
1/2 lb (225 g) butter, softened at room temperature
7 oz (200 g) almond paste (I get a Danish brand called "Odense" here in the US)
1 2/3 cup (325 g) sugar
5 eggs at room temperature
2 c (280 g) flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Italian ricotta cheese
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
Cocoa, cinnamon or colored sugar for decorating
Heat oven to 325 F/180 C. Cream together softened butter and sugar. Heat almond paste in microwave to soften it (be careful, it will burn - heat at 10-second intervals and check in between). Break almond paste into small pieces, add it to butter mixture. Add eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly after each egg. Batter will have pieces of almond paste in it - this is OK. Add half of flour, mix well, add other half, then salt and vanilla. Pour into greased, floured, round springform pan, smooth top of batter with large spoon or spatula, then bake for about an hour. A toothpick inserted in middle of cake will come out clean when it's done.
Cool for 10 min, remove from pan, let cool completely. Right before serving, mix ricotta and sugar (can add more or less sugar to taste), and pile the sweetened ricotta on top of the cake, about an inch from the edges (looks like a cloud on top of the cake). Sprinkle with cocoa, cinnamon, or colored sugar to decorate.
If you're really artsy, you can make the cake look like it did in the magazine picture, with caramelized sugar swirls and sugar-frosted berries and champagne grapes. But I'm not, so I take the lazy way out with cocoa. ;D
Store cake in refrigerator. Cake without ricotta on top can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days, wrapped well. Mangia bene!