Burnt Almond Cake

Submitted by Steve P.

"Elegant Bakery style cake with a luscious almond flavor."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 23
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• The cake

• 2 1⁄2 cups cake flour
• 1⁄2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1⁄2 tablespoon vanilla extract

• Honey Almond Brittle

• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons water
• 2 ounces slivered almonds, toasted (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1⁄8 teaspoon baking soda

• Custard Cream

• 1 cup milk
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans.
3. For the cake: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
4. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce the speed to medium-low.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 30 seconds between additions.
7. Add alternating increments of the flour mixture and buttermilk and vanilla, blending well after each addition; this should take about 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
10. Cool in pans, on wire racks, for 10 minutes, unmold the cakes and let cool completely.
11. Note: The cake recipe makes two 8-inch round cake layers.
12. Only one is used for this recipe.
13. To make the brittle: Combine the granulated sugar, honey and water in a medium-sized saucepan.
14. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
15. Boil, without stirring, until the mixture turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes.
16. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the toasted almonds, butter and baking soda.
17. Mix with a wooden spoon just until the butter melts and the foaming subsides.
18. Pour the mixture into a nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet and set aside to cool.
19. Once the brittle has hardened, break it up and crush to fine crumbs in a food processor.
20. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
21. To make the custard cream: In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, heat milk to barely simmering.
22. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a medium mixing bowl.
23. Whisk to blend smoothly.
24. Stir the heated milk into the egg mixture; return mixture to saucepan.
25. Bring back to a boil, over medium-low heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute.
26. Remove pan from heat; add butter and vanilla, stirring to melt the butter.
27. Transfer custard to a bowl; place a piece of waxed paper directly on top to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until cold.
28. Whip the cream and confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form.
29. Fold into the chilled custard and refrigerate until ready to use.
30. To assemble cake: Cut the cake in half horizontally.
31. Place one layer on a cake plate, spread cake with cold custard cream and sprinkle with brittle crumbs.
32. Cover with the remaining layer of cake.
33. Spread the remaining custard cream over cake, applying a thinner coat to the sides than the top.
34. Chill for a least 1 hour before garnishing.
35. To garnish, press brittle crumbs onto the sides of the cake with the palm of your hand and sprinkle a layer of crumbs on the top.
36. Refrigerate until ready to use.
37. Note: To toast nuts, arrange in a single layer on a baking pan.
38. Bake in a 375F oven until golden brown, about 7 to 10 minutes.
39. Allow nuts to cool before using.

Reviews

[1000396]

The cake was way to heavy. For this recipe, if you are trying to get a close resemblance to Dick's Bakery, this is definitely not the cake to use. The almond brittle has a very strong flavor of honey, which Dick's absolutely does not. The custard way not thick enough to spread on the cake and stay, it ran all over. I actually had to add a cup of stabilized whipped cream to get it thick enough to stay on the cake. The cake tastes very average, and is not a light airy cake like Dick's. Would not recommend this cake. Plus it is very expensive to make.

 

[cjd1020]

I tried this cake after reading reviews that mentioned Dick's Bakery in San Jose, CA. I'm sorry but I thought it tasted nothing like Dick's. The cake did not have much flavor, however, I will agree it was moist. The custard cream and honey brittle are nothing like Dick's. The custard was alright, but I have had better. I don't know if we have just been spoiled by Dick's, but my husband and I ended up not even eating one piece of cake. We ended up throwing the whole cake out. So it you are looking for a copy of Dick's Bakery Burnt Almond Cake, this is not it.

 

[catherinem]

I needed a "Dick's Bakery-like" almond cake so I tried this one. It rocked! The cake is moist, I think my new favorite yellow scratch cake. I added a bit of almond extract to the batter. The almond brittle was good, but to make it more like Dick's Bakery, I used the caramelized almond recipe from the Kraft web site instead. I also stabilized the whipped cream before adding it to the custard (see the Wilton web site for stabilized whipped cream recipe) and used more of it. It was a huge hit at my dad's party!

 

[design]

After reading the reviews, I wasn't very optimistic about this cake but it was good, and more similar to the burnt almond cake from Peter's in SJ than I was expecting. I thought it would be bland considering there's nothing special in the ingredients (it's literally just a white cake) or the whipped cream or vanilla custard. I thought there'd at least be almond flavoring somewhere??? I didn't have any problems with the custard or whipped cream frosting being too runny but you have to let everything cool and refrigerate both the frosting and custard before assembling the cake. I heeded the warnings on the honey almond brittle and only used 2 tablespoons of honey vs. 3 and added a touch of vanilla which I think helped quite a bit. I don't understand why the recipe makes 2 cakes if you only use 1??? If I were to do this again, I would double the custard - there was barely enough for a thin layer even though it's a thin cake.

 

[sicily2482]

This cake was a disaster. I have baked more cakes than I can count and this was by faaar the worst. The brittle tasted like straight up honey, the custard had pretty much no taste and the 'whipped cream' that was added to the custard was soooo runny I ended up having to alter it completely and even then it turned the custard into a runny mess that didn't have a prayer at staying in or on the cake. Dicks it is not and Peters it is def not! Burnt almond cakes should be light and airy...sweet, but you shouldn't be able to tell the sweetness is coming from honey, powdered sugar...or whatever, its subtle. Im working on my own and will share if I come up with something closer. The batter itself is a good batter, I'll give them that, but its not burnt almond. Don waste all the time or money.