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This French Almond Cake is incredibly delicious and incredibly easy. One-bowl, no-mixer and just a few minutes to throw together!
Think of this French Almond Cake as an early little Christmas gift. Why give a Christmas gift when December's barely gotten started? Well, just because I knew you were going to need it.
I sure do! A cake that's moist, tender and incredibly delicious, while at the same time being one-bowl, no-mixer and just-a-few-minutes-to-throw-together is exactly what I need at this time of the year.
Don't wait till the 25th to give me this one, I've got all sorts of get-togethers and occasions coming up and people who I'd love to surprise with a special treat.
I need it now!
And I thought perhaps, you were in the same boat, so it's comin' your way today! Merry Christmas!
So that's about all I'm writing today friends because, just like you, I'm trying to wrap my mind around Christmas and the fact that's it's not waiting on me.
The perfect cake to make when you're pinched for time
I admit, I'm a bit more behind than usual because, instead of doing lots of baking and decorating over the long Thanksgiving holiday, we did something infinitely better. We were incredibly blessed to welcome a new baby boy into the family! More on that coming up... but with a few minutes to spare, I think I might throw together a French Almond Cake!
In closing, since I have some really sweet French friends like Paule and Barbara and Monique (as close to French as you can get), I thought I better confess the real deal, as I don't want to get into any kind of trouble with them or have la gendarmerie (the French police) arrest me for a counterfeit cake. So, here's the scoop: I kind of made up this recipe, but I did base it on my French Grandmother's Lemon Yogurt Cake which is a favorite of ours and really truly is French. I just changed up the flavors a bit, added almond flour, almond extract, a sliced almond topping and a shower of powdered sugar.
Now I'm clean. Sort of ...
- ½ cups sliced almonds
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¾ cup powdered sugar plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¾ cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup almond flour not almond meal
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup sunflower oil grape seed or canola oil
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Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Spray a 9-inch round cake pan (with at least 2 inch tall sides) with baking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and spray parchment paper lightly. Set aside.
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Place almonds in a small baking pan. Spread to a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until just beginning to turn pale golden brown, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool (these will be used at the end to top the cake).
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Combine the orange zest, orange juice, powdered sugar and extracts in a small bowl for the glaze. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Cover and set aside.
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In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring until well blended.
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Add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt and extracts. Stir to combine.
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Add the oil and stir well. Don't worry, at first it will seem to separate, but keep stirring till smooth. This might take 2-3 minutes.
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Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake feels springy to the touch in the center and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if getting too brown near the end and cake is still not done*. Be careful not to over bake. Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes; then turn it out of the pan onto the rack.
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While the cake is still warm, using a pastry brush, gently pat the glaze all over the cake. Just keep going over the cake till the glaze is gone. Some of it will drip off, but most of it will soak in. Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the top of cake while glaze is wet and pat gently. Allow cake to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
*Spray foil lightly with cooking spray or rub with a bit of oil to prevent cake from sticking to the foil.
Kamini Dandapani says
Sorry if this is a silly question, but what is the difference between almond flour and almond meal? I want to make sure I use the correct product! Thanks.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Kamini, almond meal and almond flour are both made from ground almonds, almond meal has the skins on and almond flour has blanched and peeled almonds. Almond flour is also more finely ground. We recommend almond flour for this cake!
Mari says
You posted this some time ago but I just found it yesterday. It's absolutely DELISH. I followed the advice of one of your commenters, I too usually find things "too sweet" so I cut the sugar down to 1C. I baked in a 9" springform pan for 35mins. Perhaps a couple of minutes too long for my oven, but it's sooo good. In fact, I'm off to get another slice! Thank you for this recipe!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for letting us know, Mari!
Cynthia says
I made this cake last night. I had a slice with my coffee this morning. It is delicious.
It takes 2 bowls to make it — one for the glaze and one for the batter. 😉 I used a toothpick to poke holes in the cake to encourage the glaze to saturate the cake. It worked great. Extremely moist and tasty.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks, Cynthia!
Susie says
I've made this cake before and it is wonderful! I am making it again tomorrow for Mother's Day and was wondering if I could add some blueberries to the batter - would that change the texture and/or change the baking time?
Thanks much
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Susie, blueberries would be delicious. It may take a bit longer. I would check the temperature with an instant thermometer. It should read 200-205˚F in the center of the cake when it's done.
Trisha Smith says
Hi Chris and Happy Easter!
I made this cake this morning for my husband and I to enjoy for an Easter treat. It did not disappoint. So moist and delicious and it is so pretty on the plate. I followed your recipe exactly as written and it turned out just like yours! My husband said he wants this cake for his Birthday 🙂
Thanks for sharing another great recipe.
Trisha Smith
Chris Scheuer says
That's awesome, Trisha! Thanks for letting us know!
Christine M says
This cake is moist and delicious. I made two small cakes from this recipe, a 6" Bundt and a 6 1/2" kugelhopf shaped cake. They looked and tasted great. I enjoy making smaller cakes so I can give one away and keep one. I wish I could attach a picture for you to see. They really looked beautiful! Thank you for another great recipe.
Chris Scheuer says
So glad you enjoyed it, Christine! Thanks for letting us know!
Leslie Jones says
Made this recipe last night. It was beautiful, moist & decadent. It did burn quickly @ abt 28mins but once covered with tin foil it did not significantly change the taste or texture. Froze 1/2 to try @ another time. In Australia, a 300g pkt of almond flour is $10. Expensive!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for letting us know, Leslie!
Nelson says
This cake was a very good cake with excellent flavors, but didn't use nearly enough ground almonds for it to feel like a proper almond cake. Texturally, it was very much just a normal flour-based cake which was very disappointing. The order the instructions are written in is also not efficient, and the bake times listed for both the almond topping and the batter were extremely off.
Chris Scheuer says
So happy you enjoyed it!!
Susan says
I made this cake for a company dinner as it is always so beautiful and easy to make. This time, for some reason the cake fell in the middle. When I tested it with a toothpick it came out clean and the edges were brown. Help!! What did I do wrong? I used almond flour, large eggs, plain (0% fat) yogurt. Followed the recipe to a “T”
Chris Scheuer says
I'm sorry you had trouble with this cake, Susan. It's so hard to say what went wrong without being in the kitchen with you. Give it another try 🙂
Elle says
Where can I buy this cake in New York City? Will travel for food.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Elle, this is a recipe I created for this blog. You can make it in your very own kitchen 😊