Golden Lemon Almond Cake

This week is another free choice week for the heavenly cake bakers group. Last time we had ‘free choice’, I made the no bake whipped cream cheesecake. This week, I gave the list of cakes to my husband, and asked him to pick. I told him to pick something that didn’t have a date next to it, but had a link for the recipe title. It took him about 30 seconds. “Golden Lemon Almond Cake.”

First, let me say I was baking this on a weekday evening, so I got none of that lovely natural light that usually makes my pictures look better than my photography skills should normally allow. They’re all using the flash. Second, my workspace was a mess, so my pictures are zoomed in way close to hide that fact. 😉 Luckily, this is definitely a quick and easy cake, especially if you take the shortcut of using pre-ground almonds.

So, basically, you put the almonds, turbinado sugar, flour, lemon zest and some other dry ingredients I don’t remember in the mixer. Add your butter and some of sour cream, and mix well, “to build structure”. Add the egg/sour cream/vanilla in a couple of additions.

Once the eggs are mixed in, spread it in your pan.

Bake it, then poke it all over with holes for syrup.

You may notice my marshmallow roasting stick there. This worked well for the holes. I forgot to mention the other week — Leftover caramel ganache makes a really good chocolate base for smores. We have a (legal, permitted) firepit in our backyard, and regularly have friends over for weekend fires. A couple weeks ago, I guess we got a bit peckish and decided to dig out the marshmallows. I found some graham wafers, so went looking for some good chocolate to use when I remembered the ganche. Yum! Since it’s already slightly soft due to the added cream, it worked really nicely.

For the lemon syrup, I couldn’t find my little plastic hand juicer thingy, so I ended up juicing my lemon by hand. I was surprised at how much juice I managed to get out with very little effort, so I might just end up giving away the juicer when I do find it. One less thing to clutter my new cabinets if they ever arrive.

Once the syrup is applied, it’s ready for eating! I made it on the Thursday before Labour Day, then we waited to cut into it until Friday night, when we brought it to our friends’ cottage. It was a big hit. Between 5 of us, we ate more than half the cake Friday night, and the rest disappeared the next morning. Jay’s convinced there has to be some way to improve it, though. He wants me to keep making it until I find a way. 😉