Almond Cracker Cake

A few weeks ago, Bedstefar (my FIL) sent me a recipe for a cake that sounded really interesting. Instead of being made with flour, it’s made with crushed TUC crackers and hazelnuts (which I guess means it’s technically a torte?). The directions were pretty barebones so I figured I better work out the kinks before their visit in April. ☺


TUC crackers were nowhere to be found here in Portland, so I substituted Club crackers and it worked out perfectly fine. I suppose you could even use unseasoned bread crumbs or panko. The only thing I recommend is to use fine crumbs. Same for the almonds—the finer the better to insure a nice uniform texture. And yes, I do recommend you grind the almonds if possible. Buying almond meal is a waste of money. It costs about $10 a bag and you may end up with a stale bag.

The texture was dense and moist. Perfect.

Almond Cracker Cake

• 3 ½ oz Club House crackers, finely crushed/ground
• 4 oz raw shelled almonds, dried and finely ground
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 to 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 5 ½ to 6 oz sugar
• 5 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar until well mixed. The mixture should be thick and the sugar should appear to be largely dissolved. Add all the dry ingredients and vanilla extract and mix well. The batter will be thick. Bake in a well-greased pan of your choice (tap the pan on the counter a little to spread the batter and release air bubbles). Any regular cake pan or square brownie pan will do. Mini-spring forms allow you to make taller specimens, which can be cut into layers and assembled into an elegant layered cake. I’ve even spread some batter into a shallow mold to get thin disks. This batter is pretty versatile. The cake is done when the center is set and springs back when you press it lightly, about 20 minutes for a regular sized cake pan.

So now you have this delicious cake, how to serve it? If you’re a chocoholic then maybe top with a rich chocolate ganache. For something lighter (in appearance, not calories!) try making a layer cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit. When I baked up the disks I spread a light layer of chocolate ganache on them and pressed some crushed See’s Victoria Toffee on top. Those were really, really delicious and lasted about all of 2 minutes. This time we did cardamom ice cream with a drizzling of dark chocolate sauce. Highly recommend the chocolate sauce. So easy with a rich chocolate taste.

Topped with Victoria Toffee.

As I was taking the pictures, Sonny was hovering around, blocking the light, as the ice cream was melting, spoon in hand, ready to dig in. After each click, he asked, Now? Are you done now?






Good things come to those who wait.

Will Blog for Free Toffee

A week or so ago, I was contacted by a marketer from See’s Candies asking if I’d like to receive a free sample of my choice to use in a dessert. In return, they asked that I mention their Easter candy is now available. I know that some bloggers may feel uncomfortable with this type of solicitation, but I’m not having a hard time with this one. My policy is if I like the product or find it useful I will put it out there. I’ve always done this, even though, up till now, I never got anything in exchange.



I have to say, it’s pretty funny that a chocolate candy company would offer to send me a free sample. To use in a dessert, no less. I’m not much of a chocolate fan and I tend to stay out of the sweet kitchen. So I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I chose the Victoria Toffee. When I got it, the first thing I did was crush some up to sprinkle on top of homemade vanilla ice cream. Not quite the most creative way to use it, but it tasted simply fantastic. I am planning on using some of it in a cake/torte of some type. And if the stars line up right, I’ll be able to post about that soon.




Got any other good ideas? They sent me a pound of the toffee, so I've got a bit to work with. Let me know quick, because I have a feeling that I won’t be able to keep the candy monsters away for very long.

Weekend Wokking Round-up: the almond challenge!

As usual, this round of Weekend Wokking proved to be a challenge. Almonds were the theme ingredient, and I would guess they're not something most of use regularly in our cooking and baking. Kudos to the participants; they did a good job showing the versatility of this ingredient. There's a little bit of sweet, a little bit of savory and even a little bit of savory and sweet together. Enjoy!



Chocolate Almond Crunch submitted by Rita of Pink Bites in Seattle. I can't believe I forgot to include these tasties when I posted the round-up! My apologies to Rita. Can you guess what gives these chocolate almond clusters their crunch? It's not the almonds. You'll just have to click over to Rita's post to see her secret.




Almond Eggplant “Bisteeya” (Bastilla) submitted by [eatingclub] vancouver. Don’t let these girls fool you. They’re industrious and creative. They wanted to use almonds in its various forms , and they did just that with a result that was “ savory-sweet-eggy-nutty.”




Almond Coated Chicken Filet submitted by Pepsi’s life journal 1-2-3 in Norway. A great alternative to bread crumbs. I bet the almonds give a better texture to the crust as well as an extra layer of flavor.



Green Tea Soba Noodles with Almond Butter submitted by Wandering Chopsticks. It's quick, colorful and high in protein. Perfect match for miso-glazed salmon.




Cebollada con Almendras (Andalusian Onion and Almond Soup) submitted by Kits Chow in Vancouver. This is a savory soup with cumin, almond milk, and a touch of cinnamon. Based on a recipe that dates back to the 16th century and served to royalty!




Almond Stuffed Dates submitted by Yasmeen of Health Nut in Cleveland. Sweet Medjool dates stuffed with an almond paste cooked with a pinch of saffron. These tasty treats are a favored snack across the Middle East, but now you can make them at home no matter where you live!




Almond Orange Chicken and Veggies submitted by MomGateway. Chicken coated with finely chopped almonds tossed with seasonal vegetables in a soy-citrus sauce. Just give me a bowl of rice and a bottle of Sriracha and I'm ready for dinner!




Napoleonshatte with homemade marzipan submitted by me. Sugar cookies stuffed with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. This one was Hubby’s idea and I’m so glad he suggested it. The marzipan took less effort than I expected and the results were spectacular!




Again, thank you to the participants for the inspiration!

For the next secret ingredient, I choose BEEF! I went in on a quarter beef with a friend and we've got an assload of it, especially ground. So I'm looking for your best beef recipes. The host this time is Marija of Palachinka.(If you haven't checked out her blog, do head over there. It's got gorgeous photos and there's a recent whimsy post she did featuring Alice in Wonderland). Please read over the submission guidelines and send your submissions to palachinkablog(at)gmail(dot)com by Sunday, March 29th.

Homemade Marzipan and Napoleonshatte

It’s rare that Hubby asks me to make a particular food, so when he requested Napoleonshatte, I couldn’t very well turn him down, could I? Never mind that I’m a mediocre baker at best and baking anything besides brownies or banana bread can be a risky venture.




Napoleonshatte are cookies (that look like Napoleon’s hat!) filled with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them offered here in the States, but every respectable pastry shop in Denmark carries them. So simple a creation, but looks can be a bit deceiving. I wouldn’t say they are hard to make, but for a beginner the shape can be difficult to achieve. At least it was for me. Halfway through, I switched to making Napoleon’s logs :P Surprisingly the marzipan filling was not as difficult as I expected. It just required a little patience.

If I actually knew anything about baking and pastries, I could be more specific about the cookie dough. The only thing I can say is the perfect specimen is made with a dough that is slightly crumbly, but also chewy, maybe some kind of cross between a sugar cookie and a pate brisee (likely made with some almond flour), if that makes any sense at all. There are a few recipes out there, but the one I chose seemed easy and straightforward. However I’m not going to link to it because 1) it’s in Danish and 2) the recipe didn’t give me the texture I’m looking for. Don’t get me wrong, they were fine, resembling sugar cookies, but I wanted more of the chewiness. I've got a couple recipes I want to try, but if you have a killer recipe, do let me know. When I do find that perfect recipe, I will definitely post the link.

I have 2 logs of marzipan left, totaling a little over 1/2 lb. Any ideas what I should do with them?

I do, however, have a link for the marzipan. It’s from Sara Moulton, one of my all time favorite chefs. She’s just got a down-to-earthness about her that is often missing in the new generation of chefs. The recipe is fantastic. Hubby, the marzipan expert in this house, raved about the result. The only thing I did differently was use 1 tsp almond extract instead of 4 tsp vanilla because I didn’t want any competing flavors. The grinding was a bit taxing on the nerves because the almonds have to be ground to a fine powder. That’s hard to do with most home spice grinders. I had to walk away a couple of times so my grinder could cool down. Count on it taking at least 1 hour (not 15 minutes as stated in the recipe) with the blanching, chopping, grinding, sifting and mixing. Other than that, it’s a perfect recipe. Not too sweet, which is often the case with store-bought, mediocre marzipan.

Lastly, the chocolate ganache. I just melted 8 oz (by weight) dark, semi-sweet Belgian chocolate in ½ cup heavy cream. I did this in the microwave on 50% power, stirring every 2 minutes until the chocolate was melted and uniform. Some people add a pat of butter (but I never do). The ganache takes a few hours to set up. Don’t be tempted to put the cookies in the freezer to speed up this process. You’ll just end up with condensation or something that affects the texture of the coating. The fridge might be okay after a couple of hours. Traditionally the cookies are only coated on one side, but I completely coated a few of the logs, thinking I was doing my chocoholic husband a favor. I stopped when Sonny commented that they looked like turds. Don’t you just love the unbridled honesty?

This is my entry to Weekend Wokking, a blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks that highlights a different theme ingredient every month. This time it's almonds. If you want to get in on the action, send your submissions to me, blazinghotwok(at)gmail(dot)com, by Sunday, March 1st. Guidelines about the event can be found by clicking the link, and be sure to check back for the round-up on the March 4th.