Chocolate Almond Cake
Ingredients
- butter and sugar for tin
- 250g butter, cubed and softened
- 250g caster sugar
- 5 medium (size 6) free-range eggs, at room temperature
- 250g ground almonds
- 50g blanched almonds, finely chopped
- 125g dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- finely grated zest ½ lemon
- icing sugar for dusting
Method
Brush a 22cm cake tin with butter, line the bottom with a disc of baking paper and brush that with butter, too, then dust the tin with caster sugar. Preheat oven to 180°C (regular bake).
Put butter in a bowl and beat with an electric beater until creamy and loose, then gradually beat in sugar and continue beating until fluffy and lighter in colour (creamed). You'll need to stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat eggs together with a fork, then add them gradually to the creamed butter and sugar.
Mix in the ground and chopped almonds, chocolate, vanilla and lemon zest. Turn mixture into prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger and it is pulling away from the sides of the tin. Cool cake in the tin for 12-15 minutes, then turn it out onto a cake rack lined with baking paper. Cool for 30 minutes, removing the disc of baking paper if it is attached. Cover with a clean piece of baking paper and a second cake rack. Flip the cake over and remove top cake rack and paper.
When the cake is cool, sift with plenty of icing sugar and cut into slices for serving.
Serves 10