It was my SIL’s 70th birthday last month and she came down to stay with us one night. We took her out for dinner and came home to have this celebratory cake. When I asked her what type of cake she would like for her special birthday, she asked for vanilla. You know I couldn’t just do vanilla, so I pulled out all the stops and created this masterpiece. The cake layers come from Recipe Tin Eats and while the method for this cake is slightly odd the result is pretty darn good. I’ve simplified her method and cut the recipe in half (because we prefer small desserts).
The crunch in this cake comes from a layer of almond meringue that is baked until crispy and when assembled in the cake, with a layer of buttercream and seedless raspberry jam, it results in a crunchy and chewy texture, similar to macarons. It is really wonderful.
Vanilla Almond Crunch Cake
Makes one 18 cm (7 inch) cake that may serve 8-10 people.
Ingredients for the cake:
- 150 g AP flour
- 7 g baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 58 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 125 mL milk
- 10 mL pure vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean pod
- 10 mL unflavoured oil
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 125 mL seedless raspberry jam (for assembly)
Directions:
- Prepare an 18 cm (7 inch) spring-form pan by lining the bottom with parchment and brushing the bottom and sides with quick-release mixture (see notes below).
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
- Scrape out the vanilla seeds from the pod and set it aside.
- In a microwave-proof container, melt the butter with the milk but do not boil the milk, add the oil and vanilla pod (not seeds at this point). Cool completely. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds and mix well to separate all of the seeds (I found a quick blitz with my immersion blender did the trick). Set aside.
- Combine the eggs and the sugar and beat on medium speed for 7-10 minutes until light and fluffy and doubled in size.
- Slowly add the flour on 1 or 2 speed until you have incorporated all of the dry ingredients. Scoop out a couple of spoonfuls of the batter, add it to the milk and butter mixture, and whisk well. Pour this mixture into the batter and beat for a minute or less until entirely incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap vigorously on the counter to help remove air bubbles. Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before completing the cake.
Ingredients for the crunchy layer:
- 50 g egg white
- 100 g sugar
- 2.5 mL almond extract
- 20 g ground almonds, toasted
- 16 g AP flour
Directions for the crunchy layer:
- Preheat the oven to 325° F.
- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and beat until it is stiff and shiny. Beat in the almond extract.
- Combine the ground almonds and flour and mix well, fold in small portions into the beaten egg whites until completely incorporated.
- Spread a circle of the meringue the diameter of the cake on a piece of parchment and bake for 30-45 minutes at 325° F until golden and firm to the touch. Cool completely.
This is the Buttercream recipe that I always use.
- The quantity in the recipe is perfect for lightly coating the cake including a crumb coat, but if you want extra decor, I would add an extra 50 g of butter and 25 g of icing sugar. If you wish to pipe rosettes on top, separate about 125 mL buttercream and beat in 2.5 mL almond extract.
Assembly:
- Allow the cake to cool completely. Insert toothpicks around the cake at the height halfway point. Using a serrated knife, cut directly above the toothpicks all the way around.
- Lay the first layer of the cake on the cake stand protected with parchment paper. Heat the seedless raspberry jam so that it’s liquid and spread half of it on the cut side of the cake layer. Add the meringue layer directly on top and spread about 250 mL of the buttercream across the meringue surface evenly.
- Spread the other half of the raspberry jam over the cut side of the cake and lay it over the buttercream raspberry side down.
- Spread a thin layer of the buttercream over the entire cake and refrigerate, covered for a few hours or overnight.
- Spread the remaining buttercream over the entire surface of the cake to even it out. If you wish to pipe rosettes as decoration, please see the note under the buttercream recipe link.
- If you have excess meringue, pulse it in a spice grinder to a relatively fine powder. Decorate the cake with it as desired. Using the remaining 125 mL buttercream, dot the top of the cake with rosettes as desired. Cake may be refrigerated but I would suggest bringing it to room temperature to serve it.
Notes:
- Quick-release mixture: 2.5 mL vegetable shortening, 2.5 mL vegetable oil and 2.5 g AP flour. Mix all the ingredients together so it is homogeneous and brush onto the cake pan surface.
- If you are planning on eating the cake a day after you bake it, you may use stabilized whipped cream instead of buttercream. But if the cake needs longevity, then use buttercream.
- My Crunchy layer ended up spreading out a bit more than the diameter of the cake, so I cut off the excess and ground it up and used it as texture and decoration on the cake.
- The cake may be made in several steps over a couple of days to limit the amount of time in the kitchen at once. Day 1, bake the cake. Wrap the cake in plastic and freeze. Bake the meringue layer. Day 2, make the buttercream. Set aside at room temperature. Day 3 Assemble the cake and add the buttercream.
- I am not a professional baker and I don’t have the patience to decorate a cake with much more than what I did with this one, just sayin’.
Oh I love those kind of European-style cakes with a complex texture and flavour profile. Excellent and beautiful cake – I particularly like the almond merengue layer. Great BH present! 🙂
LikeLike
That’s a very beautiful layered cake! You did a great job, Eva.
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
LikeLike
Mmmmm…..what an impressive, beautiful cake! Perfect for a celebration!!
LikeLike