I saw an ultra-fluffy cake whose ingredients listed almond flour and lemon, and thought it had to be delicious—given how much we love Tarta de Santiago at home, that cake suggested it would surely remind me of it, but with a more sponge-like crumb. That’s exactly how it turned out—and it was a hit with our friends!
To the almond flour and lemon, a standout addition is spreadable cheese (I used Mascarpone), and the result is a moist cake with an incredibly juicy, fresh lemon-and-almond mix. Let it rest for at least two hours to let the lemon flavor settle (or even overnight—you’ll see how the cake, given time, develops more body and the flavors settle).
In this case, I owe the recipe to Joaquina, who shared it very recently in our Facebook group "Cooking with Claudia&Julia". If you're not in the group yet, I can only encourage you to join, because recipes, tips, and questions are shared, and there's a spirit of camaraderie and love for which I can only feel gratitude.
Thank you, Joaquina, for the recipe, and thanks to everyone for making the group such a lovely space!
Le Creuset Heritage ceramic mold
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 200 g of sugar
- 250 g of Mascarpone cheese (or another creamy spreadable cheese)
- 100 g of cake flour
- 180 g almond flour
- 125 g of sunflower oil
- 1 packet of baking powder (15 g)
- The juice and zest of one lemon (if it’s very juicy, use only half a lemon)
- (Optional) Ground almonds and sliced almonds for decorating
Preparation
- Sift the flour with the yeast, then mix with the almond flour.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ºC, top and bottom heat.
- In the KitchenAid stand mixer`, add the 4 eggs and start whisking with the balloon whisk attachment (or with a hand whisk if you don't have a stand mixer).`
- Add the sugar, and beat at high speed until they double in volume.
- Without stopping, add the mascarpone cheese and beat until fully incorporated. Then add the oil and the lemon juice.
- Add the flour (the flour mixture with the yeast) gradually, and finally the lemon zest. Mix to finish incorporating and stop the machine. You should have a very wet mixture, slightly grainy if you used coarsely ground almond flour.
- Prepare the ceramic mold, greasing it with mold release spray or butter.
- Pour the batter you have prepared into the ceramic mold and move it a little to level it.
- Decorate to your liking (optional; if you want, you can bake it as is). I sprinkled almond flour over the entire surface and decorated with ground almonds all around the perimeter.
- Place it in the oven at 180 ºC for 1 hour, on a lower rack, to give it time to rise without cooking on the bottom (you can loosely cover it with aluminum foil to make sure the top doesn’t cook too soon, and remove it after about 35 minutes).
- Once it's done, remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Let it rest for a couple of hours before enjoying it, so the almond and lemon flavors can set.
