Cake Slice Bakers - January 2012: Chocolate Almond Cake

I have been a bad girl lately. Well, not really bad per say, but I’ve been sort of lazy and have neglected Cake Slice Bakers. I’ve only missed a month, but it feels so much longer. For the month of December the Cake Slice Bakers made Buche de Noel. I knew as soon as I saw the recipe was winning that I would not be able to make it. For one I had to study for finals that month, and two I would be leaving for vacation and I didn’t want to make a huge cake.

This month I actually sorta kinda participated in January’s recipe. This month we were supposed to make a Tiramisu Cake, but since I don’t like coffee, my sister doesn’t like coffee, my mom is away on business and my dad has been watching what he’s been eating, I knew that cake would never have a bite taken out of it. So instead of making the winning cake, I made the cake that I voted for: the Chocolate Almond-Coconut Cake.


This cake is similar to a flourless cake. Similar because it has 2 tbsp of flour and it uses egg yolks as well as egg whites. The cake is basically supposed to be an Almond Joy candy bar…but in cake form. I’ve tried Almond Joy before, and I do not like it one bit. The coconut is way too sweet and the almond on top just throws everything off in my opinion. So if I don’t like Almond Joy, why vote for an Almond Joy cake? Well I love the flavor of almond and I love chocolate, plus I could omit the coconut called for in the recipe, which is exactly what I did.

Along with omitting the coconut, I also took out an egg yolk, reduced the amount of butter by half a stick and only used 8 oz of almond paste instead of 12 oz (because I’m cheap and didn’t want to buy two cans when I would only use one and a half). The end result was marvelous! The flavor was so almondy, I couldn’t imagine adding in that extra 4 oz of almond paste. The cake was also really dense and was just so perfect. The chocolate ganache/glaze thing that went on top also added a nice little flavor of chocolate because I couldn’t really taste it in the cake itself.


Sadly, I was the only person that ate this cake…and sadly I could only eat a few slices (there comes a point in time when eating cake night after night become redundant and you want something else for dessert). This really is a good cake if you like/love the flavor of almond.

Side note: I really like the smell of almond. I like it so much, my dad got me almond lotion for Christmas. It’s awesome and I use it every day!

Chocolate Almond-Coconut Cake
Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup + 2 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
8 oz canned almond paste
1 ¼ cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder into a small- or medium-sized bowl. Set aside as well.
2. Break the almond paste into tiny cubes and place in the bowl of an electric mixer along with the sugar and one egg. With the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the softened butter and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Add in the remaining eggs, one at a time, and beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sized of the bowl as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the cocoa and flour mixture. Mix until combined.
3. Scrape the batter (it will be thick) into the prepared pan and smooth the top out. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out relatively clean when inserted. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the cooling rack to cool completely. Transfer the cake onto a serving plate and top with chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup half and half

Directions

1. In a small sauce pan bring half and half to just before a boil. Turn down the heat and add in chopped chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Pour the chocolate mixture into a small bowl and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Pour ganache onto the cake. If you want to ganache to be a little firm when serving the cake, place it in the fridge for a couple of hours.