Published April 11, 2007. From ATK Books.
We built our almond cake recipe around sweet almonds, which (unlike bitter almonds) are easy to find in the supermarket. Once we were in the kitchen, our first challenge was to determine the ratio of flour to almonds—the answer proved to be 3/4 cup flour to 3 1/2 cups ground almonds. Any more flour, and the cake lost its appealing rustic texture; any less, and the cake was too moist and heavy. For our best almond cake recipe, we chose cake flour rather than all-purpose—it gave the cake a welcome lightness without sacrificing pure almond flavor.
Do not substitute low-fat or nonfat milk for the whole milk. Blanched almonds are almonds without their skin. Be careful not to overtoast the almonds or the cake will have a dry, crumbly texture. You can substitute 3 cups whole blanched almonds for the slivered; increase their oven toasting time to 11 minutes and their processing time to 30 seconds in step 2.
This recipe was published in our cookbook The Best Make-Ahead Recipe.
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