Lemon Almond Butter Cake

1 C (5 oz/142 g) all-purpose flour
1 t (4 g) baking powder
½ t (3 g) salt
½ C (113 g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 C (7 oz/199 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ C (2 oz/56 g) almond flour
¾ C (160 g) lemon curd
2 T (11 g) sliced almonds
sanding sugar, for garnish

Place oven rack in middle position and heat to 350° F (177° C). Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick baking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and mix in flour mixture. Mix just until combined. In separate small bowl, whisk eggs until they start to foam. Be careful not to beat them too much, or your cake will be tough. Add eggs and ground almonds to butter mixture, and mix well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan, and spread evenly. Drop 8 individual tablespoons of lemon curd evenly around outside edge of batter, leaving an inch border. Drop 3 or 4 more tablespoons of lemon curd onto center of batter. Sprinkle sliced almonds over top of batter and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean or has a few moist crumbs attached. Rotate pan one half turn midway through baking.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing sides of pan and cooling completely.

Serves: 6 to 8

3 Feb 18 – Followed batter recipe as described in original recipe. I used Dickinson’s Lemon Curd from WinCo Food. It tasted delicious. I did not toast almond slices because they were placed top of cake batter before going in the oven. Butter at room temperature (66° F) when I creamed it with sugar. It turned light and fluffy after 2 plus minutes. The recipe called for finely ground almonds or almond meal. I used Bob’s Red Mill (BRM) almond flour. There is an interesting comment about whisking the eggs but not too much which might cause cake to be tough. I left the comment in but I’m not sure why it is in there. Baked cake in island oven for 43 minutes. The top browned nicely and baked long enough. Texture was somewhat dense and chewy which Susan liked and was OK for me. Flavor was good but not noticeably almond or lemon flavor until you bite into the lemon curd. Very nice.