Almond Cake
Greetings, readers. I’m writing to you today right before I embark on making milk bread, something I’ve been meaning to attempt since a trip to South Korea — where it is/was a staple at many bakeries — a few years ago. Even though I’m more of a cake baker, I bought a few packets of yeast just before everyone decided to buy yeast last spring, and given that I have not once tried to make sourdough (I’m a rebel), I figured I should make some other varieties of bread. So finally, milk bread it is. But… I have no idea how it’ll turn out yet, so you’re getting a recipe for cake instead!
RECIPE: Almond Cake
My husband, whose mother is French, likes to make a proper Galette des Rois (or two) every January and we usually throw a party. This is not the year for parties, so he just made one for us to enjoy this winter. The cake pictured above and detailed below is not that cake, but it is the cake I like to make soon after he makes his because we always have almond paste left over. It was an accidental find, via Giada De Laurentiis (that I modify lightly), a few years ago — and it’s become a regular part of our rotation as well. (I made it a few weeks ago… and may just make it one more time because we still have some paste.) It incorporates cornmeal, which gives it a slightly interesting texture, and the final product goes really well with cups of coffee or tea.
Ingredients
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup cake flour OR put 1 tablespoon cornstarch at the bottom of a 1/2 cup, then fill the rest with all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces unsalted softened butter
1/4 cup almond paste, cut into small pieces (about 1/2 to 3/4 inches)
1 and 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more set aside for dusting
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sour cream OR 1/4 cup plain yogurt*
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable spray OR apply a bit of butter or oil to the pan and flour it. I use a 9-inch round springform pan out of laziness/need for convenience and the cake turns out fine, just a little flatter.
3. Whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour (or all-purpose flour/ cornstarch substitute) and baking powder. Keep this mixture to one side.
4. Beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth for about 3 to 5 minutes. (I use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment - a hand-held beater could work too). Reduce the speed to low and slowly add confectioners' sugar. Mix until fully combined.
5. Add the vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolks and raise the mixer speed to high, mixing until well combined. Bring the speed down to medium and add sour cream (or yogurt substitute), plus dry ingredients. Mix until it's all just incorporated. (Make sure you've scraped any extra bits on the sides of your mixing bowl into the concoction and incorporated it well).
6. Transfer the batter to the cake pan and smooth out the top.
7. Bake the cake in the lower third of your oven for 30 to 35 minutes (the cake should be golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan when ready).
8. Let the cake cool on a wire rack. Just before serving, you can remove the cake from the pan and dust with a little more powdered sugar.
Notes
* I use low-fat plain yogurt, which is often just hanging out in my fridge. Full fat would also be great, but I would avoid a nonfat yogurt.
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Food For Thought
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned them in past editions before, but I’m a big fan of Meera Sodha’s cookbooks (both for actually cooking out of and for sheer inspiration), and I tried my hand at making lamb burgers and masala fries out of her Made In India cookbook last week. Highly highly recommend — it was like going out for a gourmet meal, but all made in the comfort of my own kitchen.
Bites of Culture
I’ve had a certain song (spoilers if you haven’t watched?) stuck in my head since last week’s episode of Wandavision. I didn’t give the show a shoutout to in the last newsletter, but I am loving it, even though I didn’t even originally plan to watch it. Our Marvel rewatch is basically done, but we’re waiting for the last Spider-Man movie to be rentable (it appears only available for digital purchase!), so until then…
I also finally watched Promising Young Woman this week, and despite more than a year of anticipation and generally enjoying the performances and talent involved, ultimately found it a little too flawed for my liking. (An interesting piece on all that here.) The performances in Judas and the Black Messiah were great and I’m hoping to watch Minari very soon.
On the book front, I … gave up on Bleak House, because life’s too short and I realized I was barely paying attention to what I was reading. After turning my attention to other books like Nadia Owusu’s Aftershocks (which I enjoyed, though parts of it feel a little more like a textbook than memoir), I recently started Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, which I believe I first became aware of via my friend Books on GIF, even though everyone’s now talking about the upcoming movie adaptation. And speaking of friends with newsletters, my pal Ken now has The Toasty Post where he reviews films (old and new) that he’s watching!
Thanks for reading this edition of Rad Dishes! You can follow me on my occasionally updated Instagram account and my extremely irregularly updated Twitter. A streamlined version of Rad Dishes (the original food blog) is here.