Zaizaf's Almond Cake via Five on Friday

Yesterday evening my husband and I were invited to dinner at our friends home.  It was a pleasant evening sitting outside and the food was great.  I wanted to take something for the "party" and I came up with the idea of making an almond cake using marzipan which was sitting in my frig from Ikea (haha, the marzipan is from Ikea, not the frig)...

A couple of months ago, I made Nigella's almond cake. But, it take like six eggs and the flavor wasn't that great.  So, I remembered that I used to make a cake using Solo almond paste.  I shuffled through one of my recipe files and I found the recipe; I hadn't made it since the 1980's I'm sure!  On another hand written sheet was a almond cake recipe from my dear friend Zaizaf. ( I have written about my friendship with her before in this past blog post. )

I'm always keen to try new things and I had just the right amount of ingredients to make Zaizaf's cake. Following are five photos showing my accomplishment.....

Here's my original handwritten recipe from way back when.....

(that's my my new "vintage" sugar canister from Turkey in the background)

I used my kugelhopf pan and it was just the right size for the cake....

After sitting for about 5 minutes, it came out of the pan beautifully.....

You can glaze this cake if you wish but I opted for a little powdered sugar topping.....

You're probably wondering, where is the recipe!  Here it is along with my instructions on how I made it:

1/2 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)

1/2 cup sugar

1 package almond paste or marzipan (7 ounces)  (room temperature)

2 eggs - separated

1 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

 Grease and flour the baking pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until they are stiff.  Put aside.  In a large mixing bowl combine crisco and sugar and mix until well blended.  Add in almond paste, in small pieces, until it is mixed together with the sugar mixture.  Add in two egg yolks, milk, vanilla and salt.  Gradually add in flour and baking powder until mixture is blended.  Fold in beaten egg whites by hand.

Pour cake mixture into prepared baking pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Let cool on a baking rack before unmolding cake.  Let cool before slicing.  Enjoy!

I said five photos and I just had to share this picture of Lilly with you.  I was going through some old photos and came across this one.  She was much younger then but isn't she the cutest sitting there like a little person?

I hope you have had a good week.  It's hot and a bit humid here in my part of the country.  We hope to get a few rain showers.  Enjoy your weekend!

my best to you,

Pat

I'm linking to the following parties:

Five on Friday .....
Bewitchin' Projects Block Party ......
Moms the Word...