Almond cake

Almond cake
Interpretation on a recipe of Maxi cuisine

Ingredients for the cake:

3 eggs
3 egg whites
100 g ground almonds
100 g icing sugar
30 g flour
20 g butter
15 g sugar
½ grated tonka bean (or bitter almond extract)

Ingredients for the cream:

250 g soft butter
6 egg yolks
240 g sugar
80 ml ​​water
½ grated tonka bean (or bitter almond extract)

Maple syrup (or honey)
White almond paste and dark chocolate
100 g sliced almonds

Preparation:

Prepare the biscuit starting with melting the butter. In a bowl, mix the almond powder, icing sugar, grated tonka bean. Add the eggs one at a time, while whisking  with a hand mixer. After the second egg, stir until the mixture has doubled in volume. After the last egg, whisk 5 more minutes. Then, pour in the melted butter.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites. Towards the end, add 15 g of sugar. Gently mix the preparation into the first drawing upward movements. Sprinkle over the flour and stir gently. Divide the pastry into 2 baking dishes, covered with parchment paper. Shape flat cakes of equal size (20-22 cm in diameter and 10-15 mm thick). Bake at 180°C for 15-20 minutes. Often monitor because the cakes are thin and cooking does not take much time. Cool on a wire rack.

For the cream, beat butter until fluffy cream. Make a syrup out of the sugar, grated tonka bean and water, heating it to 110°C. Whisk the yolks in a bowl. Pour in the syrup (very hot) in a thin stream. Continue stirring with the mixer until the mixture doubles in volume and cools completely. Then gradually add the cream into the butter mixture. Normally, you will get a thick smooth cream.

To assemble the cake, start by placing 1 cake on a tray or large plate. Soak it with maple syrup, diluted with 1/3 volume of water. Use a brush for this.

Spread over a little less than half of the cream. Smooth with a spatula. Place the second cake on top. Soak again. Then cover the cake with the remaining cream (top and outline). Fix the sliced almonds on the contour (freshly cooked and cooled).

The cake decoration is a matter of personal taste. I have made large almonds from the almond paste and I stained them with melted chocolate.