Light, moist and velvety, this Almond Cream Cake has a homemade cooked, whipped frosting that pairs perfectly with the almond cake. Decorate the cake simply with sliced almonds.
Almond Cream Cake Recipe
If you’re looking at this cake and happen to remember the pinkalicious cake we recently posted, you’ll think that we’re in an almond kind of mood. It’s true. We do love our almonds. What is sad is that this Almond Cream Cake has been sitting in my “to-do” pile for 3 months. Anyone else have a to-do list like this?
It’s not that I wasn’t excited about sharing it with you, or that it didn’t taste as good as the other treats we’ve been sharing. Quite the opposite, actually. I wanted to give this cake the credit that it was due, and with the busyness of the holidays, I kept pushing it aside until I had more time.
Well, your wait is over, my friends. Let me tell you about this cake.
Homemade White Cake
First of all, it’s a completely homemade white cake. That means from scratch. No boxed mix. I love boxed cake mixes because they turn out perfectly nearly every time. But making a cake from scratch has always been this challenge that I’ve wanted to tackle.
In finding a delicious recipe for white cake (which happens to be my favorite flavor), we had several failures. I wanted a moist cake, but I wanted it to have a light crumb and be thick, but not heavy. We tossed aside several different attempts, but when I saw how this cake baked up? I knew this was it. For a homemade cake, this one beat the rest. It’s velvety and moist. Can you see the texture in this photo?
Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour
The recipe uses cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. All purpose flour has more protein in it (10-12 grams in all-purpose as opposed to 8 grams in cake flour), which forms gluten when you mix it. This causes the cake to be more “holey”. The less gluten there is, the more tender the cake is. The starch in the cake flour helps to stabilize the cake. There’s more science behind the reasons you should use cake flour when baking a cake. Although I like learning the science behind baking and sharing it with you, sometimes it is just easier to let the experts explain it. You can read more of the science behind cake flour here.
Whipped Frosting
The second special part of this cake is the frosting. Although we love our buttercream recipe, I was wanting to try something a little different for this cake. I’ve always loved whipped frosting because it is less sweet than many store-bought buttercreams. I searched for a delicious whipped frosting and came across this recipe that got rave reviews. It’s a cooked frosting…something I had never tried before! This frosting takes a bit of time to make, but one spoonful and you may just be hooked.
How to Make Cooked Flour Frosting
When you make the frosting, it is important to follow the directions carefully. You’ll want to cook the milk and flour together over medium heat until the mixture is very thick and resembles mashed potatoes. Don’t undercook this! It took about 10 minutes for me to get my mixture to this texture. Stir constantly while it is cooking so it doesn’t burn on the saucepan.
At this point you’ll probably be questioning how in the world this is going to taste good on your precious cake. Trust me. It will.
Let the flour and milk mixture cool to room temperature and add the almond extract. You can speed up the process by placing the pan on ice if you’d like. It cools within minutes if you use this trick. Also, stir the frosting a few times while it is cooling. This will prevent a film from developing over your frosting. Stirring it and even placing plastic wrap right on top of the frosting will help to keep your frosting smooth.
While this is cooling, take the granulated sugar and put it through your food processor to make the grains of sugar finer. Why do this? In the next step, you’ll cream the butter and sugar together until there is no graininess left. It will take less time if you process the sugar first. Or you can use a superfine sugar such as this one.
Once the butter and sugar are completely creamed together (beating about 5 minutes), add the cooled flour mixture and you are going to beat the mixture with the wire whisk attachment for a good 5 minutes. The mixture will go from having a separated look to coming together into a beautiful whipped cream. Just when you think it isn’t going to work it will start getting fluffy and look like a delicious whipped frosting. Go ahead. Sneak a little taste. Just be warned that you may not be able to stop eating it.
We wanted a nice, thick layer of frosting on our almond cream cake. If you’d just like a thin layer of frosting you can halve the frosting recipe.
Decorate a Cake with Almonds
You can leave the almond cream cake a pure, snowy white if you’d like, or press some sliced almonds onto the sides. Arrange a few whole almonds on the top . Make it your own and be proud of it!
I’d say our first try at making cooked frosting was a success. What about you? Have you ever tried homemade whipped frosting or from-scratch cakes? I’d love it if you shared any other hints for homemade cakes or whipped frosting with us!
Tools for Making This Cake
- Stand Mixer: A hand mixer will work, but I always find it easier to make frostings with a stand mixer.
- Cake Flour:A must-have for anyone who loves to bake from scratch.
- Beater Blade with Scraper: The best invention ever!
- Ninja Express Chop: Mini food processor…this is one of my most-used kitchen tools!
- Straight Icing Spatula: The long straight spatula makes it easy to smooth frosting.
- Wire Cooling Racks: This will help your cakes cool more quickly.
Almond Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups cake flour* (345 grams) spooned & measured carefully
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup milk 2% milkfat
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3/4 cup egg whites plus 3 tablespoons*
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons white flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- 2 cups butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Sliced almonds and whole almonds for decorating
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment until they are stiff and form peaks. This may take a minute or two. Pour the egg whites into another bowl and place them in the refrigerator until you're ready to add them to the batter.
- Using the same bowl that you used to beat the egg whites, place the softened butter in and cream the butter for about 2 minutes (using the beater blade attachmenuntil it is white in appearance.
- Add the sugar to the butter and beat until fluffy (about another 1-2 minutes).
- In a small bowl, combine the flour (measured carefully*), salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the milk and almond extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture alternately with the milk.
- Add the stiffly beaten eggs to the cake batter. Fold the egg whites in gently. Do not overmix at this point. If you do, your cake will become more dense.
- Grease and flour 2 9" round cake pans. Pour the cake batter equally into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 25-27 minutes or until the top bounces back when you touch it.
- Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges and remove them from the pans to a wire rack, allowing them to cool completely.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk over medium-low heat until it thickens. Stir it constantly, lowering the heat to low if needed. The consistency should be very thick, like mashed potatoes. This step took about 12-15 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and set the pan in a bowl of ice for 5-10 minutes to quicken the cooling process. The temperature of the mixture should be at room temperature.
- Stir in the almond extract.
- If you have a food processor, process the white sugar for a minute or so so that the granules become finer.
- While the mixture is cooling, cream together the butter and processed sugar using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until light and fluffy. Do this for 5 minutes until the sugar is completely creamed and there is no graininess left.
- Add the cooled flour mixture and beat it until it all combines and looks like whipped cream. This will take about another 3-5 minutes of beating. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl while the mixture is beating together so that everything gets well incorporated. Once the mixture has the texture of fluffy whipped cream, you are ready to ice the cake.
- Once the cakes are cool, place one cake on a cake plate. Spread frosting on top of that layer, then place the other cake on top of the frosted cake. Use the remainder of the frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake.
- Decorate the sides and top with sliced and whole almonds, as the picture shows, if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Anila says
Hi! I’m so looking forward to trying this out! But quick question: I only have 8 inch pans. Can I use two 8 inch pans instead? Would I need to increase the baking time or make any other changes? I’m fairly new to baking so appreciate any help! Thanks!
Julie Clark says
Yes you can but it will probably take longer to bake. I’m not sure exactly how much longer. Enjoy!
Audrey says
I suggest using a toothpick or kabob skewer to test the cake. If it comes out clean then your cake is done. Good luck.
Winifred Harnott says
I love your recipes & have tried quite a few so fr. The chocolate covered cherry cake & the strawberry bread are particularly delicious. However, coming from the UK I find cup measurements quite difficult. Would you be able to provide metric measures with all your recipes, please? I know some of the recipes are metric as well & that’s great. Look forward to more lovely cakes.
Julie Clark says
Metric measures are a little more difficult for us 🙂 But we always consider what our readers ask. Thank you!
Kathryn says
Hi! I just tried this cake for the first time and I think it will be great! I’m always confused about when to refrigerate, with this whipped icing is this cake best kept in the fridge or can it just stay on the counter?
Julie Clark says
This cake is ok stored at room temperature, but after about 24 hours I’d refrigerate just to help keep it fresh.
Laurel McLaughlin says
I don’t like to leave negative comments but honestly the whole recipe was a flop for me. I love almond so I had to try it. First off, it was very time consuming, longer for me than suggested prep time. I’ve never added whipped egg whites to a cake where folding them in where they just didn’t incorporate however the cake baked up just fine. Nice and flat but not the texture I was expecting. It did come out more dense like a few others even though I took great care in measuring the flour. Second, the frosting was a disaster. My milk and flour took much longer to get to the mashed potato stage, probably 25 minutes. So maybe I cooked it to low and slow. , it was literally After it cooled it turned into a solid glob but I kept trucking on. When I mixed the butter and flour mixture together it was coming out as you had said. When I tasted it, the grit of sugar was defiantly there even though I put it in a food processor and upon frosting the cake I noticed little pieces of the flour mixture the size of rice as another baker did. Possibly the only mistake I made with this was I didn’t switch to the whisk on my fixer, I used the paddle. Going back through the site I saw where it said to put on the whisk but the instructions don’t say to change it to a whisk after mixing the butter and sugar. I would strongly suggest halving the frosting recipe as you had suggested for there was enough for 2 cakes and I was pretty generous with it. Being I had some issues I just don’t have it in me to give it another try. I’m sure I probably did some steps wrong.
Lisa says
I’ve made countless cakes, cupcakes, pies and desserts in the last 35 years. I’m not even a cake person. But a dear friend wanted an almond cake for her birthday and I decided to try this recipe back in October 2015. Ever since this is MY favorite dessert and my go to cake when I want to impress. I have never had a cake prior with such a perfect density nor have I ever liked frosting…..until this recipe. I was that person who scraped the icing off a piece of cake. This isn’t icing, this is something out of heaven, I’m certain of it. Don’t let the process of this cake deter you from trying it. You will not be disappointed. BEST CAKE EVER!!!!!
Julie Clark says
Wow!! Thank you!
Miranda Regan says
What did you use for white flour for the frosting ? Powdered sugar or AP flour?
Christine says
Have you ever tried using confectioners sugar instead of the granulated? I would love to not pull out the food processor!
Julie Clark says
I haven’t but I think a few others have and it worked!
Becky Tonner says
trying to find the video for this recipe but so far no luck, BTW the best cinnamon roll recipe is still my go to my family love it and I make it sugar free for my husband
Paula says
Super cake..well worth the effort! Thank you.
Miranda Regan says
For the frosting when you say white flour do you mean powdered sugar or AP flour?
Julie Clark says
all purpose flour
Lisa says
Attempt #3 at posting my experience, so I will keep it short.
3 hours to make from start to finish.
Despite following the directions exactly, the cake did not rise much and was extremely dense.
The frosting had a great silky consistency, but tasted like a cube of butter.
This was very labor intensive and I found the recipe difficult to follow.
My friends said it had good flavor and I will try it again!
Debbie Franks says
Just wanted to say my family has made this frosting for years! We called it Collette’s frosting after my best friend’s mom. We just bring the milk and flour mixture to a boil and let cool.I’ve even used water and flour when my daughter was dairy free (I don’t count butter as dairy). We never processed the granulated sugar ( never had a food processor in the olden days). When the cooked and cooled flour mixture hits the granulated sugar it gradually “melts” it. The only thing we did differently was add the cooled flour mixture a spoonful at a time into the sugar mixture. This is very different from a powdered sugar frosting – less sweet, more buttery and silky smooth. We just added vanilla but Collettes daughter uses almond extract. It is great when you don’t have powdered sugar – who would think you could make frosting out of regular sugar! We used to use it to fill whoopie pies 🙂
Julie Clark says
Thank you for these tips!
Dotti Regier says
So if I was making this for a party I would refrigerate it over night and then it could sit out the next day for the party?
Julie Clark says
Yes!
Hannah says
Salted or unsalted butter? It never specifies that I can see!
Julie Clark says
We use salted, but you can use either.
Lauren Eastland says
This recipe was extremely involved, but so worth it! Made this exactly by the recipe EXCEPT I didn’t have cake flour. I remedied this by removing 2 TBL per cup of the flour (6TBL) and replacing with corn starch and sifted twice (per googles suggestion😜). This is hands down the MOST tender cake I have EVER made! That said…..I’m not a fan of the butter frosting. Next time I’ll do a traditional buttercream. It’s good, just not my preference. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU 🙏 FOR POSTING! I’m forever in your debt!❤️❤️❤️
Julie Clark says
Thank you!
Donna says
I’ve never made the cake but will have to try. Have made the frosting for a cake recipe that had coffee in it which i got it from taste of home magazmine years ago. Only used shortening instead of butter and it’s my favorite frosting if making from scratch. Will have to try butter next time. A must try!
Lauren says
One question though…if I wanted to use this recipe but another flavor, like chocolate, how would I do that? Cocoa instead of almond extract? I’d love some tips! Before today, my husband brags about my cooking, but says I’m not the baker in the family!lol! I’m on a mission to bake as well as I cook!🥰
Julie Clark says
Hi there! You’d have to replace some of the flour with cocoa powder, but that can be tricky because it absorbs liquid differently and bakes differently. I haven’t tested it, but it’s a great idea. Maybe in the new year I’ll do that!
Connie says
Can I make this 2 days in advance?
Julie Clark says
Yes.
Natalie says
How would this frosting work for sugar cookies? I’m looking for something new to try.
Julie Clark says
Sounds good to me!
Becky says
I was excited to make this cake but sadly, it wasn’t a winner for us. I realized the steps are a bit out of order which added time and confusion to the process. I weighed the flour to be accurate so I didn’t end up with a dense cake (minimizing the amount of folding/stirring of the whites will ensure less density too). I also cut the frosting recipe in half based on a comment referencing a comment that seems to be missing.
The cake itself unfortunately was dry and had a tight, small crumb. The frosting (I cut the sugar quantity to 2/3 cup here) was a bit curdled, tasted more of butter and of extract than being creamy which is partly due to the results of a typical cooked (ermine) frosting. A swiss buttercream would be better here. In the end though, sadly I won’t be making this again as my husband didn’t like it at all. A few tweaks and I imagine it would be improved.
Lexah says
Would the frosting be thick enough to make rosettes with?
Julie Clark says
It should be. You’ll want to keep it refrigerated though.