Our friend Ellen isn’t responsible for the recipe for this delicious, deceptively simple cake. (We can thank Sister Angela at the Convento de la Purisma Concepcion in Penaranda, Spain for that.) Indirectly, though, she is responsible for introducing us to this delicious dessert. Ellen has an allergy to wheat gluten. Of course, she’s too gracious to request special food when she comes to dinner, but I always like to make her something she can eat with pleasure, and I think working with limitations like avoiding wheat, meat or dairy pushes me to try new recipes and makes me a better cook.
Last summer I made this cake when Ellen came to dinner in Southampton, and it became an instant family favorite. (Julia, who, oddly for a toddler, generally prefers stinky cheese to sweets, is crazy about it.) It’s light as air and just barely sweet, but, at the same time, moist and bursting with a gentle almond flavor, accented with citrus. It’s delicious sprinkled with a few summer berries, but I think I like it best without any distractions. Well, maybe, a little glass of Sauternes.
This cake is quick and simple to make, but there is one catch: you need to blanch the almonds and soak them overnight. It’s tempting to try the shortcut of using store-bought blanched almonds, but don’t. The resulting cake is dry and uninteresting. If you follow Sister Angela’s directions, your patience will be rewarded.
Recipe
(adapted from Sister Angela of the Convento de la Purisma Concepcion in Penaranda, Spain, reproduced on the La Tienda website, www.latienda.com.)
Ingredients
9 oz raw almonds, skins on
thin strips of lemon and orange zest
about 2 tablespoons of lard or shortening
1 tablespoon of flour (for a completely gluten-free cake, use rice flour)
6 eggs
9 oz superfine (castor) sugar
1. Drop the almonds into boiling water and boil them until they float to the surface.
2. Drain off the boiling water and place the almonds in a bowl of cool water. When they’re cool enough to handle, slip of the skins with your fingertips. (The skins will be loose, making this very easy.) Return the skinned almonds to the bowl of water and soak overnight.
3. Shortly before you’re ready to bake the cake, remove the almonds from the water and dry them in a kitchen towel.
4. Preheat the oven to 450F. Grease a 10″ springform pan with the lard or shortening and thoroughly dust it with the flour.
5. Drop the strips of lemon and orange zest into boiling water for a few seconds, and then run cold water over them to stop the cooking. (For a subtle citrus flavor, use thin strips of zest about the length of the circumference of the fruit at its widest point. For a stronger flavor, go around twice.)
6. Place the almonds and zest in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and process until finely ground. Stop before the almonds start to form a paste.
7. Separate the eggs. Add the egg yolks and sugar to the ground nuts and process until combined.
8. Beat the egg whites until they form dry peaks.
9. Fold the nut mixture into the egg whites and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Rap the pan firmly on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
10. Put the cake into the oven and then IMMEDIATELY REDUCE THE HEAT to 300F. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. (The outside of the cake will be a dark golden brown, but the inside is a beautiful light creamy yellow.)
11. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve. The cake keeps well covered, but unrefrigerated, for about two days.
