Fine Almond Cake is a traditional British recipe, based on Eliza Acton's recipe of 1845, for a classic cake made from a blend of almond paste, sugar and flour flavoured with bitter almonds and lemon zest that uses well-beaten eggs as a raising agent. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Fine Almond Cake.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Eliza Acton's 1845 volume Modern Cookery, the first classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
FINE ALMOND CAKE.
Blanch, dry, and pound to the finest possible paste, eight ounces of fresh Jordan almonds, and one ounce of bitter; moisten them with a few drops of cold water or white of egg, to prevent their oiling; then mix with them very gradually twelve fresh eggs which have been whisked until they are exceedingly light; throw in by degrees one pound of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and keep the mixture light by constant beating, with a large wooden spoon, as the separate ingredients are added. Mix in by degrees three-quarters of a pound of dried and sifted flour of the best quality; then pour gently from the sediment a pound of butter which has been just melted, but not allowed to become hot, and beat it very gradually, but very thoroughly, into the cake, letting one portion entirely disappear before another is thrown in; add the rasped or finely-grated rinds of two sound fresh lemons, fill a thickly-buttered mould rather more than half full with the mixture, and bake the cake from an hour and a half to two hours in a well-heated oven. Lay paper over the top when it is sufficiently coloured, and guard carefully against its being burned.
Obs.—Three-quarters of a pound of almonds may be mixed with this cake when so large a portion of them is liked, but an additional ounce or two of sugar, and one egg or more, will then be required.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
115g ground almonds
15g bitter almonds (or 30g ground almonds and a few drops of bitter almond extract)
6 eggs
225g caster sugar
175g plain flour, sifted
finely-grated zest of 1 lemon
Method:
Combine the ground almonds and bitter almonds (or ground almonds and bitter almond extract) in a mortar and pound to a smooth paste (add a few drops of cold water as you pound to prevent the almonds from oiling).
Break the eggs into a bowl and beat until pale and frothy. Scrape the almond paste into a large bowl and slowly work in the beaten eggs. Once the eggs have been incorporated, work in the sugar, a little at a time, beating constantly with a wooden spoon.
When the sugar has all been incorporated, work in the flour, again adding a little at a time and beating with a wooden spoon to incorporate fully before adding the next batch. Now work in the lemon zest.
Turn the resultant batter into a greased and lined springform cake tin. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for about 80 minutes, or until the cake is nicely browned on top and cooked through (a skewer inserted into the centre should emerge cleanly). If the cake is colouring too quickly, cover with a layer of baking parchment.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes after it is removed from the oven then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely before slicing and serving.
