FESTIVAL CAKE RECIPE by Charlie Lawrence
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup almond meal
150g butter
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup desiccated coconut
1 ½ teaspoon lemon zest
¼ cup flaked almonds
(to top before cooking)
DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 180"c or 160"c (fan forced).
Place butter into a bowl and melt in the microwave, allow to cool back to room temp before using. Whisk in your eggs, vanilla, and sugar until combined well.
Whisk in your almond meal (if your using whole almonds you will need to blitz then into fine crumbs first. Don't over mix or they will turn into an almond butter. Then followed with the coconut, baking powder, salt and lemon zest and mix until combined.
Pour it into a 20cm/8" lined round cake pan. DO NOT skip lining the pan. Even greasing very generously is not enough to stop it from sticking to the pan.
Sprinkle the surface of cake with almonds then bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Once cooled allowed to cool for minimum 1 hour before removing from tin, I like to leave mine in the tin overnight and place a clean tea towel on the top and remove from the tin in the morning.
NOTES
Willunga almonds work fantastic in this recipe. Just grind your almonds down until they reach a fine crumb consistency. Make sure all your ingredients including butter and eggs are at room temperature before using.