MangiaMore: ALMOND sheet cake with flour frosting

RER 2.18.17

This year, I didn’t make anything red for Valentine’s Day, even though I usually like to (linzer cookies, mini red velvet cheesecakes, red velvet brownies, and red velvet sandwich cookies). I didn’t even make my Valentine’s Day treat on Valentine’s Day proper. Instead, my sweet (for my sweet) was stark white and made the weekend following the holiday. But as I always say: Everyday is Valentine’s Day.

My Valentine’s Day landed on a Saturday, and my obsession and curiosity about sheet cakes (pumpkin cake and yellow cake) continued with a beaut that I found on Food52. After searching for an almond cake (first layered, then sheet), I landed on this Almond Sheet Cake. The photo alone was enough to make me crave this cake—those wisps of cloudlike white frosting looked killer. Plus, I’ve never made a flour frosting (or boiled buttercream or ermine frosting, whatever you want to call it). So I made it…

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I pulsed my slivered almonds in my food processor-slash-blender.

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I played around with sunlight and almonds on my kind of counter.

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I whisked my dry ingredients.

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I creamed my butter, added my eggs one at a time, and I incorporated my almond extract (probably more than called for).

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I alternated my milk and dry ingredients, but I did not keep track of how many additions or where I started.

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I stirred in my homemade almond “flour” and poured the pretty batter in my cake pan.

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I checked my cake one too few times, and maybe even let it cook a second too long.

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I simmered flour and milk and sugar on the front burner, afraid to burn what was becoming my sweetening agent for that pillowy-looking, cloudlike frosting.

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I beat my butter longer than I ever had with almond extract and Disaronno. I (with the aid of my sister) added heaping tablespoons of my cooled boiled base one at a time until my frosting was fluffy, white, and billowing.

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I plopped the frosting on top of my cooled cake. It looked like a mound of meringue and just as sweet.  I made swoops and swirls, layered it on thick, hoping my cake would be half as pretty as the cake in the picture.

My cake did not turn out like fudgy yellow cake that gets stuck to the roof of your mouth; mine was of a drier, more mature variety. It crumbled with toothy almond bite, contrasted with the light-as-air sweet semblance of whipped cream. Delicious and adult…

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Too bad I have indulged more than the receiver of this sweet Valentine’s Day sweet. jk.

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2.14.17

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MangiaMore: almond ANNIVERSARY cake

RER 4.24.15

If I could, I would bake a cake everyday — a cake to suit my mood, a cake to satiate my cravings, a different cake to share with my nearest and dearest. If I could I would bake cakes all of the time.

If only cake didn’t have calories. Le sigh.

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This time, my cake had a reason, a worthy occasion: to celebrate my parents’ 33^rd wedding anniversary (!!). It had to be delicious, something super tasty for my parents who deserve so much more.

I had no desire to play it safe, so I turned to Molly Yeh, whose beautiful cakes and treats inspire envy and admiration.  And once I remembered her Valentine’s Day Almond Cake, I knew it was the one.

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This was another egg heavy recipe, but separating yolks and whipping whites was felt more natural, and every other aspect of the cake was fun and easy. 

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I strayed from the recipe when it came to frosting. My father (and frankly, I) was uninterested in a whipped cream frosting, so I opted for my buttercream mainstay. I completely understand why the recipe offers a light almond whipped cream frosting. All those glossy stiff egg whites made for an airy and bubbly cake that was sweet but not dense at all. A lighter frosting would have complimented the bouncy cake, creating a lovely cake pillow.

But buttercream…

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My icing choice set up delicious contrasting textures while heightening the almond flavor and upping the decadence factor (it was a special occasion, duh). The tang of cream cheese toned down the sweet saturation and made for easy spreading. A celebration calls for an adult twist, so a little Kahlua and much more Disaronno went a long way in my slightly chocolate frosting.

Once again, Happy Anniversary parentals!!

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4.24.15

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