I saw a very fluffy sponge cake whose ingredients announced almond flour and lemon, and I thought that it had to be delicious. With how much we like Santiago cake at home, this cake would remind me without a doubt of it, but with a sponge-like crust. And so it was, and it was a hit with our friends!
The almond flour and lemon are then accompanied by a creamy cheese (I used Mascarpone), and the result is a moist cake with a mixture of lemon and almond, very juicy and fresh. Let it rest for at least two hours, of course, so that the lemon flavour settles (or even overnight, you will see how the cake, given time, takes on more body and settles flavours).
In this case, I thank Joaquina for the recipe, who shared it very recently in our Facebook group "Cooking with Claudia&Julia ". If you are not in the group yet, I can only encourage you to join, because recipes, tips, and also doubts are shared and there is a camaraderie and love that I can only feel grateful for.
Thank you Joaquina for the recipe and to everyone for making the group such a charming space!
Le Creuset Heritage Ceramic Mold
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 200 g of sugar
- 250 g Mascarpone cheese (or other creamy spreadable cheese)
- 100 g of pastry flour
- 180 g almond flour
- 125 g sunflower oil
- 1 sachet of baking powder (15 g)
- The juice and zest of one lemon (if it is very juicy, limit it to half a lemon)
- (Optional) Ground almonds and flaked almonds for decoration
Preparation
- Sift the flour with the baking powder and then mix with the almond flour.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC, top and bottom heat.
- In the KitchenAid mixer , add the 4 eggs and start mixing with the whisk attachment (or with manual beaters if you do not have a food processor).
- Add the sugar and beat at high speed until doubled in volume.
- Without stopping, add the mascarpone cheese and beat until fully incorporated. Then add the oil and lemon juice.
- Add the flour (the mixture of flours and yeast) little by little and finally the lemon zest. Mix until combined and stop the machine. You will have obtained a very moist and somewhat grainy mixture if you had coarsely ground almond flour.
- Prepare the ceramic mold by greasing it with release spray or butter.
- Pour the batter you have prepared into the ceramic mould and move it around a little to level it.
- Decorate to taste (optional, if you want you can bake it as is). I sprinkled almond flour over the entire surface and decorated with ground almonds around the perimeter.
- Place in the oven at 180ºC for 1 hour, in the lower part, to give it time to rise without cooking on the bottom (you can cover it loosely with aluminium foil to ensure that the top does not cook too quickly, and remove it after about 35 minutes).
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Let it sit for a couple of hours before enjoying, so that the almond and lemon flavour can settle.
