Comfort Foods: A Little Slice of Heaven

My good friend’s daughter Lauren is spending the summer with us while she completes a college internship at Sport’s Illustrated. I was happy to welcome Lauren, who I did not see enough of growing up. What we did not realize was how easily she would fit into our little family, and how much we would all love and appreciate having her with us. She has been a gift, and the girls love having her around as a big sister as much as I love having her as a surrogate daughter.

She has approached her time in New York with an incredible sense of adventure and wonder, and has loved exploring food and cooking in New York. She has also been honing her chef skills by helping me cook. When she made her family’s favorite recipe, a delicious almond cake, we all agreed that it needed to be blogged about!

This cake is amazing. A simple, single layer cake featuring almond paste--it is moist, yummy, sweet and incredibly satisfying. We loved it dusted with powdered sugar on its own, and with fresh summer berries as a healthy accompaniment. And…even as a delicious dessert, it packs some healthy nutrients, since almonds are a powerful antioxidant, loaded with vitamin E, magnesium and potassium to support heart health. Almonds also have cholesterol-lowering effects through the LDL lowering effect of the nuts’ monounsaturated fats.

We have served this cake a few times this summer, and it is a great, easy dessert, breakfast cake, and treat. It has become part of our favorite things…a little slice of heaven…just like Lauren!!!

Almond Cake

¾ cup sugar

½ cup sweet butter, room temp

8 oz. almond paste

3 eggs

½ tablespoon almond extract

½ cup flour

¼ tsp. baking powder

Cream butter and almond paste together, and blend in sugar until evenly mixed. Mixed in eggs, one at a time, add almond extract. In another bowl, sift flour and baking powder together and fold into wet batter. Pour cake batter into greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (cake should be firm on top). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to cake rack to finish cooling. Dust with powdered sugar, garnish with fresh berries.