Thursday, July 30, 2015

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:

17 comments:

  1. The cake looks lovely, would love a piece right now with a cuppa tea. Lily looks so adorable and so funny at the same time, your right sitting there like a little person.

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  2. Wow it looks super tasty thanks for sharing :) Lily looks great, our cat Izzy sits like that sometimes!!

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  3. This sounds delicious Pat. The sugar canister is lovely too. Have a wonderful day.
    - Lori

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  4. The cake turned out well. It looks delicious. I would never have thought to use almond paste so thanks for the tip. Happy weekend!

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  5. The cake sounds divine and it turned out of that pan perfectly. I am impressed beyond words. Cute kitty in the chair... Will catch up with you in Sept. Take care. Latane

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  6. Looks like a great recipe, thank you for sharing. Great photo of Lilly, made me smile.

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  7. Cute Five on Friday idea :-) Glad the cake turned out so well; it looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Hee, hee, I love when they sit that way; Lilly is so cute!

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  8. I love almond flavoured cake, especially if it has raspberry jam in the middle with flaked almonds on top!

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  9. Your cake looks and sounds wonderful and very easy to make too!! That has to be good doesn't it!!! I love marzipan. Great photo of Lily! Thank you so much as always for joining in. Remember there will be no fiving in August, but back in September! Hope that you have a great weekend and a great August too! xx

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  10. Looks delicious! And it came out of your cake pan perfectly!! Whenever I use my textured cake pan like yours, my cake only comes out successfully half of the time! What is your secret??

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  11. You cake looks absolutely delicious and Lily looks so gorgeous sitting in her chair:)

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  12. The cake sounds and looks delicious! Love your cute cat, too!

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  13. Aloha Pat! Have you seen the movie Mary Poppins? Well if you haven't, there is a time when they jump into a picture and land themselves in that imaginary land. I wish I could do that. Your cake looks so delicious. I'd love to jump into your picture Mary Poppins style and have a slice and a visit with you! Your blog looks lovely and I look forward to getting to know you more! Aloha.

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  14. great photo of the cat! And marzipan! Haven't had that since I lived in Germany as a kid!

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  15. Love the photo of Lily - very amusing. And marzipan is one of my favourite sweet treats - will have to try this recipe. For us UK readers - can you let us know what vegetable shortening is please? Thanks, Judy.

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  16. Ooh, I LOVE almond cake! I made one with small daughter a few months ago (it was a bit of a battle to get the marzipan into the cake before she ate it all!) and it didn't last long! I'll have to give your recipe a go too! xx

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