French Almond Cake

How to make a homemade simple almond cake recipe with a soft and moist texture, rich almonds flavor, and gluten free. This delicious French almond cake recipe is very easy to make and is perfect for any occasion.

This French almond cake is a delicious recipe, also called "Le Namandier" and is very popular for its incredibly melting texture and its rich almond taste.

Indeed, this moist almond cake is mainly composed of ground almonds and is made without flour (gluten-free), which gives it such a melting and soft texture.

Its texture is close to the almond cream filling (frangipane) that is usually used to fill the traditional French galette des rois recipe and its almond texture is very similar in flavor to the Swedish almond cake.

This almond cream cake recipe is very easy to make at home and quick is only made of 5 ingredients to which you can add additional flavors such as orange blossom water, orange or lemon zest or fresh berries for more flavor.

Sprinkle some sliced almonds and powdered sugar on top and serve this almond cake with a raspberry filling or whipped cream and you have a perfect dessert.

Ingredients and substitutions

Here is an overview of the ingredients and possible substitutions to make this delicious French almond cake at home, scroll down the page to see the quantities in the recipe card.

• Butter: Use unsalted butter softened at room temperature or melted butter.
• Sugar: A white granulated sugar, unflavored refined sugar to retain the full flavor of the almond.
• Almond extract: Use a bitter almond extract to add a more almond flavor taste, you can also add a vanilla extract in addition.
• Eggs: Room temperature eggs.
• Almond: use white or wholemeal finely ground almonds meal, which you can replace with almond flour, and few sliced almonds to decorate the top of the cake.

Optional:

• Orange blossom: this is optional but orange blossom brings an exceptional flavor to recipes prepared with almonds.
• Lemon: flavor the recipe with lemon zest and a little fresh lemon juice or even orange zest.
• Fresh berries : La framboise, les fruits rouges
• Yeast: This recipe does not contain flour or yeast, which gives it a very melting texture, but you can add a little baking soda or baking powder.

Find the quantities and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.

Equipements: use a 6 -7 inch round springform pan with a removable bottom and for the preparation you can use an electric mixer or your stand mixer.

How to make French almond coffee cake

Creaming the butter

1. Start by creaming the unsalted butter with the sugar, place in a medium sized bowl and beat with a hand whisk or electric mixer for about 2-3 minutes until creamy and smooth.
2. Then add the eggs and bitter almond extract and mix again to incorporate and until you get a light and fluffy mixture.

Tip: It is important to use ingredients at room temperature, especially the butter, which must be well softened for a smooth and homogeneous cake batter.

Add the almonds

1. Stir in the almond meal and gently mix with a hand whisk or spatula until combined.
2. Pour the cake batter into the baking pan lined with parchment paper and smooth the surface with an offset spatula.

Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 350° / 180°C.
2. Bake the almond cake at half height for about 30 minutes.
3. At about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, take the cake out of the oven and sprinkle on the top some sliced almonds.
4. Then return to the oven to finish baking until the cake is golden brown on top.
5. Let the almond cake cool in its pan before unmolding then let it cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Serve a slice of cake with a little powdered sugar dusted on top.

Tip: Be careful not to overcook your almond coffee cake to keep all its softness and avoid having a cake too dry in the mouth.

Storage and freeze instructions

At room temperature:

The French almond cake can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap or in a storage box for about 3 to 5 days.

In the freezer:

You can also prepare it in advance and store your almond cake it in the freezer for up to 3 months in a covered storage box.

Defrost: let it come back to room temperature or use the defrost function of your microwave to go faster.

More almond recipes

• Almond pear galette
• Unsweetened almond milk
• Almond frangipane recipe
• Chocolate almond milk

More coffee cakes

• Flourless chocolate cake
• Strawberry coffee cake
• French apple cake
• Cookie butter biscoff cake

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