Toasted Almond Pound Cake

I've shied away from this recipe in the past because of the cake flour requirement. And the sifting. And the ground almonds. Now that I have the stuff and the know-how, it's time to bake me a pound cake.

My intention was to make the fresh berry sauce that was supposed to accompany, but I got lazy. And really, the pound cake was really good even without it. If you want to check out the sauce, click the link below. 

Toasted Almond Pound Cake
adapted from Cooking Club of America
click to print

3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sliced almonds, toasted, ground
1/4 c sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F.

If you haven't already, place almonds on baking sheet; bake at 350°F. for 6 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool.

My oven wasn't fully preheated; the nuts took about 20 minutes to get toasted.

Process in food processor until finely ground.


Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat butter at medium speed 1 minute or until smooth and creamy.


Add 1 cup sugar; beat 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.


Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.


Beat in almond extract and vanilla. Scrape down sides of bowl.


In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.


Stir in ground almonds.


Beat sour cream into batter at low speed.


Continuing at low speed, beat flour mixture into batter for 10 seconds.


Finish stirring batter with rubber spatula until completely blended.


Grease bottom of 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with butter; sprinkle with flour.


Spoon batter into pan. Level with spatula; tap pan firmly on counter to settle batter.


Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and edges of cake pull away from sides of pan.

After 52 minutes of baking, my toothpick did not come out clean. I baked the cake another 5 minutes and it was done.

Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Run knife around edges of pan; invert cake onto wire rack. Cool completely.



I wish I had taken a photo of this cake when sliced. There were flecks of brown almond bits throughout and it was just so pretty. The cake was almond flavored without being too crazy nutty and was slightly sweet without causing a craving for milk. Nicely moist, it was just fine without the berry sauce.

I'm definitely going to make this again. I have to know if the berry sauce really does make it a flavor explosion.

Cost:

• unsalted butter: $0.59
• sugar: $0.36
• eggs: $0.96
• 1 tsp almond extract: $0.49
• vanilla extract: $0.04
• sifted cake flour: $0.66
• sliced almonds, toasted, ground: $2, SWAG
• sour cream: $1.12

Total: $6.22, but I'll round up to $7 to include baking soda and salt. That makes each of 12 servings $0.58.

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