French Almond Cake

Ingredients:

• 90g ground almonds
• 40g self-raising flour*
• 110g unsalted butter, softened
• 120g white sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Chocolate icing (recipe below)
• Shaved/grated chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease round 8-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix ground almonds and flour. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix butter and sugar. Add milk, eggs, vanilla extract. Add in dry ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into prepared pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the cover and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Remove the baking pan from the oven and let the cake stay in the pan for 5 minutes.
6. Run a thin knife around the edges and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. Cover with chocolate icing and top with shaved or grated chocolate.

Note:

* If you don’t have self-raising flour, substitute with 40g plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt

For the Icing:

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
• 1 ½ tbsp coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions:

1. Place the coffee mixture and the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water. Heat until chocolate is melted. (Make sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.)
2.  Lift the bowl of chocolate and coffee mixture and add in butter a tablespoon at a time. Place your bowl over water with ice and mix the mixture until cooled to spreading consistency.
3. Spread the icing over your cake using an offset spatula. Add shaved/grated chocolate over your icing.

Note: You can just dust the top with powdered sugar instead of using chocolate icing. Or you can top the cake with whatever frosting/icing you fancy.

Source recipe: French Almond Cake by Happy Home Baking