Friday, August 22, 2008

Damp lemon and almond cake

Damp lemon and almond cake

KJ and her fun challenge have been such an inspiration to me. I have so many cookbooks and magazines but usually reach for the same ones over and over again (Donna Hay, anyone?) :)

I want to use other books, those I haven’t taken out of the shelf for quite some time. Deciding which book to grab was not an easy task; choosing the recipe, on the other hand, was a walk in the park.

Nigella says that if you manage to resist the cake – which I dare you to – you can wrap it in a double layer of foil and leave it for a couple of days; both the flavor and the damp texture will increase. I don’t know about that, since there was no cake left to be wrapped in foil after all. :)
I believe that the only way one could ever know if Nigella is telling the truth is by making two cakes at once. :)

Damp lemon and almond cake

Damp lemon and almond cake
from How to Be a Domestic Goddess

1 cup (226g/2 sticks) soft unsalted butter
¾ cup (150g) sugar
4 large eggs
1/3 cup (47g) all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups ground almonds
½ teaspoon almond extract
grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line the bottom of a 20cm (8-inch) springform pan with parchment paper – I used one with a removable bottom.

Cream together the butter and the sugar until almost white. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a quarter of the flour after each addition. When all the eggs and flour have been incorporated, gently stir in the ground almonds, then the almond extract, lemon zest and juice. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes - you may have to cover the cake loosely with foil after 30 minutes so the top won’t burn.
The cake is ready when the top is firm and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Don’t overbake the cake or it won’t be damp.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes in the pan; then turn it out o a wire rack and leave till cool.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Serves 6-8

29 comments:

Manggy said...

Wow, the cake is damp even without a soaking syrup? That's very intriguing! Looks good, Patricia! :)

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

Yes I am intrigued by it's dampness too...looks good and perfectly styled Patricia.

Marysol said...

Love Donna Hay; I also love the look of that cake.

PG CakeCraft said...

Nice blog with wonderful recipes. The cake looks so moist and I wish I could grab one from here, all the way from Malaysia.

Deborah said...

Hmmm, if I made 2 cakes, I'm sure we'd gobble both right up!! This sounds so delicious!!

RecipeGirl said...

You have no idea how good this looks to me... I absolutely love lemon and almond together!

Jen Yu said...

Great combo of flavors. Citrus and almond are terrific together! I love those desserts that get better with time too - as long as Jeremy and visitors are able to leave it be long enough to get better! :)

Peabody said...

And I was just thinking what I should do with my lemons I have...now I know.

Christy said...

I love Donna Hay too; I'm lucky in the way that I live in Australia, and can thus be one of the first to purchase a copy once in comes out. But I had a recent bad experience with a pear and gingerbread recipe of hers which makes me doubt her credibility...

But nonetheless..these look beautiful!! It looks so crumbly and moist and so perfect for a midday treat!! Maybe I should switch to Nigella...

Susan @ SGCC said...

That cake looks just perfect, Patricia! Really lovely! Almond and lemon is such a terrific combination too. I wish I had a slice right now!

Deeba PAB said...

*Swoon*...delicious & bookmarked. It's fantastic...very nice indeed!!

Anonymous said...

Oh dang I want some damp cake! What a beautiful picture that is too! That would be the perfect dessert for me tonight!

Anonymous said...

Donna Hay, right, so inspiring ! Would be really hard to resist to this moist and delicious cake ! No need to wrap it, gone the first day for sure !

Anonymous said...

Oooh I'm so glad you made this, I have it bookmarked and was going to make it this week. Glad to know that it turns out nicely! :)

Kajal@aapplemint said...

i'm a die hard Donna Hay fan too. n i have to admit Nigellas recipes are irresistible. Glad you could get these pictures before you devoured them :p

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Ooooh, I love lemon cakes -- and I can't imagine there would be any leftovers in my kitchen, either. This one looks lovely.

Anonymous said...

when i first read the title, i was thinking, is there a new variety of lemon called damp lemon? LOL! *tap my forehead afterwards*
this is definitely an interesting cake, must be super moist, eh?

Cynthia said...

I refuse to be tempted to go and make this cake :)

Cookie baker Lynn said...

I'm the same way with cookbooks. I own tons, but always turn to the same 4 or 5. It's so great to have blogging friends to shake me out of my rut and get me to try something new. The cake looks fab!

Jaime said...

wow! well if you say it's THAT good, it's gotta be! the flavor combination of almond and lemon sounds wonderful

Dragon said...

I don't think I could resist the cake. I'd have to make two. :)

KJ said...

Hi Patricia, I'm so glad you are enjoying my challenge. Rediscovering old forgotten cookbooks is actually a lot of fun.

A damp cake is new to me. But it does sound awfully delicious.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Mark, it is! :)
Tks!

Pete, it's a dense cake.

Marysol, I love her, too. :)

SweetBites, thank you for visiting and for your kind words!

Deb, I think you are right!! 3 cakes, maybe? :)

RecipeGirl, I love them too! :)

Jen, I know! It does sound like an impossible mission, doesn't it? :)

Pea, go ahead and try it, darling.

Christy, really? I haven't had problems with her recipes so far, but it's good to know about yours - I'll be careful once I try that recipe you mentioned.
Tks for stopping by!

Susan, thank you, sweetie!

Hi, darling! I hope you try it!

Cathy, if you feel like baking... ;)

Vanille, she is!

Lorraine, I'm sure you'll love it, darling!

Kate, it was really hard. :D

Lydia, I love lemon anything. :)

Liz, hahahaha, you made me laugh, sweetie! :)
Very dense and moist, indeed.

Cynthia, I think that's a smart decision. :)

Lynn, blogging friends are always inspirational!

Jaime, believe me, darling! It is! :)

Dragon, I hear you. ;)

KJ, I've been having a lot of fun with your delicious recipes and beautiful photos.

Anonymous said...

this cake looks so moist yet light enough for tea...gosh. i love cake.

definitely like baking with ground almonds as well.

Emily said...

I love lemon cake!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

how delicious is this? i love the idea of moist lemon pleasure in my mouth. so you sending me one of those cakes?

hugs!

LyB said...

Yes, making 2 cakes at once is the perfect solution! :) It looks delicious Patricia!

kickpleat said...

this looks so good! i'm leery about the amount of butter, but i do have everything in my cupboards to make this. waistline be dammed!

Kana said...

Patricia - i just bought my first copy of Donna Hay magazine and I am hooked! Lemon cake is always popular around here.

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