Berry and almond cake

After making the devilish angel food cake several times and not having much time to play around with macarons, I decided to use my frozen egg whites in something new – and found this cake. It tastes delicious – people at work have been talking about it for two weeks now – looks beautiful right out of the oven and is packed with almonds (yum!) and berries (yum, yum!). The texture is very tender. Not convinced yet? You can feed a crowd with that many slices – or have seconds and thirds yourself. ;)

Berry and almond cake
from here

2/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (98g) plain flour
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
1 ½ cups (300g) superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 egg whites (224g)
pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
120g raspberries – I used frozen
150g blueberries – I used frozen
50g flaked almonds
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and line a 20x30cm (8x12in) metal pan with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Butter the paper as well.
Place flour, ground almonds, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into almond mixture then gently stir in butter.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth the surface. Scatter with combined berries, followed by flaked almonds. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.
Cake is best made on day of eating.

Serves 12-15