Almond Skillet Cake
Just a few pantry ingredients will transform into a quick-to-make, absolutely yummy, rustic style cake. This recipe, called Swedish Visiting Cake, is from the book Baking by Dorie Greenspan. Full of almond flavor and a touch of lemon, this cake is the perfect slice with a cup of coffee or tea.
Recipe type: Dessert | Rustic Cake
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Recipe Notes
Easy Recipe Notes: Pan: One 9" Cast Iron Skillet Oven Temp: 350° Storage: Covered, Room Temperature
Ingredients
About ½ tablespoon softened butter for preparing pan
Batter:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon, about 1 tablespoon
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Topping:
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 or 9½ inch cast iron skillet with ½ tablespoon softened butter. Tip: you can substitute a 9-inch round cake pan or pie pan.
- Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
- In a large-size mixing bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Blend the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs and use a wire whisk to whisk until thoroughly combined. Add the salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract, whisk to combine.
- Add the flour to the bowl and use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and stir until the flour is well combined. Drizzle about half of the cooled butter over the top and stir into the batter. Then drizzle the remaining half of the butter over the top and stir until the batter is smooth and ingredients thoroughly combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared skillet; use a rubber spatula, back of a spoon, or small offset spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan.
- Topping: Scatter the almonds on top of the batter, and then sprinkle the 1 tablespoon granulated sugar over the top of the batter and almonds.
- Bake: Bake 30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown on top, a little crisp around the edges, and a long toothpick or wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the skillet from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack to cool.
- This cake can be served warm or cooled, directly from the skillet or turned out onto a cake plate.
Source: Greenspan, Dorie, Baking, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 2006