I love love love almond cake. So does every cook and chef I’ve ever worked with. When we make almond cake at Birch & Barley the cooks start circling like vultures, waiting for any scraps to appear. I love that!
One of the things that makes my almond cake particularly good is that it is 90% fat and 10% flour, just enough to hold it together. It’s great served chilled because it is so dense and rich.
Here I thinly sliced some sweet and tart local nectarines. They were tossed in sugar and layed out in a single layer then topped with almond cake batter and baked, chilled and inverted. Baked about 20 minutes. Just long enough to bake the cake though and lightly cook the nectarines. The result is beautiful and delicious.
