Almond Cake with Fresh Berries
Adapted From Jacques Pépin's Fast Food My Way and also found here.
~from Savoring Time in the Kitchen
SERVINGS: 6 to 8
This food processor cake is moist and tender. Before serving, the cake is brushed with whiskey or rum-laced syrup, then covered with jam-flavored fruit and served with spiked whipped cream or crème fraîche.
Cake
4 ounces almond paste (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon tightly packed; see Note*)
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
Dash of salt
1 cup cake flour (4 ounces) - I used King Arthur's Unbleached Cake Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Toppings and Garnishes
1 1/2 tablespoons rum (or spirit of choice)*
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
2 tablespoons apricot jam*
Fresh berries
Mint leaves
Crème fraîche or Whipped Cream (flavored with rum or Grand Marnier), for serving
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter an 8-by-2-inch round cake pan*. Line the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. In a food processor, combine the almond paste, sugar, butter and vanilla and process for 10 seconds. Add the eggs, milk and salt and process for 5 seconds. Add the cake flour and baking powder and process until the batter is smooth, 5 to 10 seconds. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until lightly browned and firm, about 40 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the rum with the sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of water; stir to dissolve the sugar. I heated it on the stove top to help dissolve the sugar. In another small bowl, whisk the apricot jam with 1/2 tablespoon of water to make a glaze.
After the baked cake has cooled for about 5-10 minutes, unmold the cake upside down on a baking rack. You will have a nice, flat top this way. When cool, transfer the cake to a serving platter. Brush with the spiked syrup just before serving and then brush the cake with the apricot glaze. Scatter the berries over and around the cake. Garnish with the mint leaves and serve the cake in wedges with spiked whipped cream or crème fraîche.
*My Notes:
I used a 7" spring form pan so my cake was higher than using an 8" pan - which I liked. However, it took longer to bake. If a toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. I buttered the pan and then also sprayed with Baker's Joy.
You can make this cake early in the day. Or make several cakes, wrap, well and freeze. Defrost, still in their wrappings, in the refrigerator.
Almond paste is available at most supermarkets in 8-ounce cans or tubes. (Look for Solo Brand in a can –it costs less than the tubes. I bought the 8 ounce Solo Brand Almond Paste in a can and make 2 individual cakes - processing one at a time in the food processor.
I tripled the spiked syrup and and doubled the amount of jam glaze