Thanksgiving is upon us and I wanted to share with you one of my favorite recipes for dessert. This easy almond cake recipe is awesome because it’s super easy to prep, very quick to bake, and tastes so good! This almond cake is also known as Swedish Visiting Cake, which is such an appropriate name. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this cake when I’ve needed a quick dessert because I waited till the last minute to make a dessert to take to someone’s house or when I was expecting company. This cake is a snap to put together, and bakes in about 25 minutes. No joke! Everyone who tastes this simple and easy almond cake loves it, and I always get requests for the recipe.
I am also very excited to post my very first video ever. Videos and GIFs seem to be all the rage these days. I could literally watch those Tasty, Food52, Tip Hero videos all day long. How hard can it be to make one of those, right? Well, let me tell ya, they take a LOT of work! But I’ve done my first one, and I’ve learned so much along the way. I was very tempted to trash it and start over, but after all that work, I just had to post it. And I know that you, dear reader, won’t be too hard on me. I hope you enjoy it! Hopefully it’s the first of many more. Happy Thanksgiving!
Easy Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 sticks 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
VIDEO
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
- Mix together sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl.
- Add in both eggs and beat well.
- Add salt and extracts and beat until well blended.
- Stir in flour and mix well.
- Fold in melted butter until incorporated.
- Empty batter into cake pan and top with almond slices.
- Bake cake for 25 minutes, until golden on top and at the edges.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan by running a knife along the edge.
- Turn cake out onto a rack and cool before serving.
Notes
- The cake may seem a bit undercooked on the inside, but it will be just fine. This cake can be mixed entirely by hand with a spatula or with a handheld beater.
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Claire
Made this last night – so simple and easy! It was a bit sweet for my taste so next time I might cut the sugar to 1 cup. I used raw almonds to top the cake thinking they would toast in the oven, but only the almonds on the side did – the flavor on the toasted ones was so much better so I’ll probably toast them lightly next time. Subbing orange zest for the lemon zest would also be delicious. Thanks for this recipe!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Claire! I love this recipe because I can make it at the last minute without bringing butter to room temperature!
Patty
I haven’t tried this cake yet, but will be trying it this coming weekend. I like almonds but I’m not that fond of the flavor or almond extract. Can I eliminate this and use the vanilla and lemon only?
Thanks,
Patty
Paint the Kitchen Red
You can use any extract; let me know what you think! Cardamom would be nice, I think.
Sara
I haven’t tried this yet but wondering if i could add cardamom to the cake? I adore cardamom.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Sara – that sounds like a fabulous idea. I love cardamom too and I have no idea why I never thought of that. Let me know how it goes. Let me warn you that this cake is meant to be a dense cake – it’s not fluffy. Super tasty, but I wanted to give you a heads-up!
audrey
I love this cake and have made it many times. Have you ever added berries to the batter?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Audrey – thank you for commenting on that recipe. Since I mostly post Instant Pot recipes, my other recipes don’t get a lot of love 🙂 I love this recipe too, and berries sound like an intriguing idea. What do you think would go well with almond flavor? I am not sure if they would sink to the bottom?
Dana
My friend makes this at my request for my birthday. I was amazing!!! You must eat this.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Aww, thank you Dana! You have nice friends 🙂 I love this cake so much too – especially because it’s so easy!
Dana-Lynn Hilton
I made it again for my 40th this year but this time I made 2!!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Happy 40th birthday!
Priscilla Wilson
I love almond cakes. I made this exactly as directed, but it was definitely not cooked enough. I put it back in for 10 minutes. Hours later I put it back in for 30 minutes because it was just wet dough except for the very edges. The flavor is great. The picture looks brownish on the outside. Mine stayed completely light.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Priscilla, I’m sorry the cake didn’t meet your expectations. Just to clarify: this cake is not a fluffy cake. It’s quite dense and has a brownie-like consistency. But it shouldn’t be wet either. It should be quite crusty on the outside. Anyway, thanks for trying it out.
Lynn
Oops commenting again so I can rate this great recipe. Simple, honest food is the best!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Awesome! It’s one of my favorites – especially because I don’t have to plan ahead, like getting eggs or butter to room temperature. Perfect for a late-minute dessert. Works great in a cast iron pan, to give it a rustic feel, and when you’re really down to last-minute and don’t want to remove from pan and let cool before serving…..
Lynn
This was such a hit I had to come back and share. This is one we will make again and again. My kids fought over the last piece ?
Dhanya
Hi Neena,
I just realized that there is no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe!! Is that right?
I am really looking forward to trying it this weekend..Will let you know how it goes!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Dhanya – that’s right. It’s a dense cake, not fluffy. I’ve never tried it with baking powder – might be interesting to try that!
Mary
I know this is *really* late, but concerning butter/serving to thise with lactose intolerance:
For a very similar recipe (basically the same recipe, but without the vanilla and lemon), tbe author had had trouble getting the cake out of the pan untact. They trouble-shot, and found that using margarine solved their problem. There are some good vegan margarines on the market, which my vegan cousins tell me work well in baking (such as Earth Balance), so that would work.
Happy baking!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you Mary – that was kind of you to take the time to respond. It might help others who have the question.
Cecelia
If I don’t have butter only margarine will the cake still work
Paint the Kitchen Red
Cecilia, I’m not sure about using margarine in this recipe because I’ve never done that. Sorry!
Debbie
I’m planning to make this today, as I’m taking dessert to a friend’s house for dinner. One question, though – she’s lactose intolerant (I’d have to shoot myself if I were allergic to dairy) but do you think I can substitute ghee for the butter? That would make it a truly cross-cultural dish 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
Sorry Debbie – my answer is probably too late! Did you try with ghee? My instinct would be that it wouldn’t have enough structure with the ghee.
Debbie Stone
Not too late at all — as it turns out, another friend wanted to bring dessert, so I brought a roasted cauliflower dish that I’ve made in the past. Looking forward to trying your recently-posted Indian Roasted Cauliflower, though.
And I wondered about the effect ghee would have on the Almond Cake – you probably do need the milk solids in a cake. I’ll stick with real butter when making the Almond Cake for my non-lactose intolerant friends.
Lindsay
Love the video. Super cool. This recipe is a must for this Swedish-American woman.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you!