Heavenly Cake Baker Submission #10
Almonds and chocolate in a cake that’s easy to put together; what could be better?
Blanched almonds are ground with superfine sugar then folded into stiff egg whites. Voilà, your cake batter! The batter is piped into 3 circles on parchment paper before baking. I made 3 extra very tiny circles. I’m taking this cake to a friend’s house, so the little cake is for me to taste. (It was 3 bites and it was delicious! I loved the chewiness of the succès juxtaposed with the creamy ganache.)
The ganache called for a teaspoon of instant lemon tea powder. I knew that a jar of instant tea would sit in my pantry forever, so I steeped tea and lemon zest in warm cream before mixing it into the other ingredients. Buying a special liqueur, sugar, or flour to use just a bit wouldn’t bother me, but instant tea? Pantry snob? Perhaps.Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don’t post recipes from this book on the internet. One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook. That strategy worked on me! After follow the group’s baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon. You can too.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
evil cake lady
wow! your lemon tea technique is very clever! did it work out to your liking? i wish the heavenly bakers could have shared that can of instant tea. i have been wondering what i will do with it (make more tea ganache, i suppose). i love the deep swirls on your cake–delicious!
Vicki
It turned out beautiful! I had the same reaction about buying the instant tea. Glad I wasn’t the only one. Smart idea to make a little cake. On recipe builder it worked out to a LOT of points.
tralf
Looks and sounds delicious!
Nicola
Pantry snob! Where can I join up? Hilarious. I don’t even have instant coffee let alone instant tea.
Will definitely take your tip on how to get that citrus flavour. Have been thinking about Lady Grey/Earl Grey tea steeped in the milk.
Gorgeous looking cake. Love that photo.
Monica
Me, Me.. I’m totally a pantry snob as well. And like everyone else here I’m so writing this tip down on the book…even thought I don’t see myself making it again.
And BTW the pictures is just like the one on the book!!!! I have to agree with Nicola, love the photo.
faithy, the baker
Love your photo! i agree with you about the instant lemon tea, although i decided that i didn’t want to bake this cake, i still ended up buying earl grey tea powder instead..lol..so i can bake another cake with it. 🙂
Anonymous
May I have a list of the ingredients please?
Thank you!
Lois B
I have to tell you, I didn’t get as much lemon flavor from the zest as I had hoped, but the cream did take on an essence of tea. I think Jennifer has the right idea, we should have all shared one jar of instant lemon tea. Surely, Marie would defend us if we ended up on some “watch list” for sending little packets of brown powder all over the globe. 🙂
The friend I shared this cake with had house guests, who, although they are Christian, follow a kosher diet and have a Passover Sedar. I chuckled to hear that they weren’t all that excited about a Passover cake. (Usually people are very excited about getting one of Rose’s cakes.) This succès changed their minds about Passover cakes – best seen to date.
Lois B
Anonymous – I normally am delighted to shared recipes. You’ll find ingredients and directions for most of my posts, however, this entry is part of my participation in the Heavenly Cake Bakers.
There are a group of us that are baking our way through Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. We are learning so much as we go through the book, but another reason for the group is to promote the book (it worked on me, after following for months, I bought the book so I could bake along too), so the rules of the group only allow us to post the recipe if it has already been made public in some other way, listed with the book on amazon, etc.
Sorry to disappoint you, but it is well worth picking up the book. It will not disappoint.
Cherine
This cake must be mighty delicious. This is the first time I come across your blog and I love it 🙂
Cara
This looks beautiful and sounds delicious. We have a few recipes in our family now that have changed people’s minds about Passover desserts – I can see how this would do the same!
Melissa K
Hi Lois. I know you don’t want to give the ingredient list, but can you at least tell me if this is gluten free? I offered to bring dessert to a dinner party on Friday, and just this morning, I found out one of the hosts has celiac. I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to make now, without having to buy a bunch of expensive flours that I’ll never use again. I would definitely go out and get this book tomorrow just for this recipe if it’s GF!
Lois B
Melissa,
Yes, the recipe is gluten free. I’m planning to make it in a couple of weeks with the raspberry ganache for someone who has the same dietary concern.
Jenn
Count me in for the pantry snob club. I didn’t want to buy instant tea since I know I will never use it. But I do have Starbuck’s instant coffee so that was what I use. Love the picture of your cake and the fun write up!