Almond Sponge Cake Recipe

This almond sponge cake and a delicious light cream filling and a glazed almond topping.

Ingredients

Almond Sponge Cake
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/3 cup almonds, slivered, toasted, and finely ground
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Whipped Cream Filling
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/3 cup finely ground almond

Topping
1 cup almond slivers, toasted

Glaze
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place the 1/3 cup and the 1 cup (for topping)of slivered on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

and toast in the oven for about 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool. Watch carefully as they can burn quickly if you forget about them.

Once completely cooled, set aside 1 cup for the topping.

Place the remaining 1/3 cup of nuts in a small food processor, along with 1 tablespoon of the flour, and process until finely ground.

Increase the oven temperature to 450°F.

Grease a 17 inch x 12 inch jelly roll pan, line with parchment, and then grease and flour the parchment paper. Set aside.

While eggs are still cold separate two of the eggs, placing the yolks in one large mixing bowl and the whites in another bowl.

To the two yolks, add the additional yolk, and the two remaining eggs.

Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and the ground almonds. Set aside.

Next we will want to add 1/2 cup sugar to the yolk mixture and beat with an electric mixer on high speed for five minutes, or until pale, thick and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Sift half the flour mixture over the egg yolk mixture and fold in gently with a rubber spatula, just until the flour is incorporated. Sift the remaining flour mixture over the batter and fold together.

In a large clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Beat in one tablespoon sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the cake batter with an offset spatula.

Bake for 7 minutes or until golden brown.

Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven invert the sponge cake onto a clean dish towel that has been sprinkled with icing sugar.

Carefully remove the parchment paper, sprinkle the cake lightly icing sugar.

Place on a wire rack to cool.

Cream Filling

Place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar in a large bowl and stir to combine.

Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Fold in 1/3 cup toasted ground almonds.

Glazed Almonds

While the cake is in the oven, in a medium saucepan, melt together butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Remove from stove and mix in confectioners sugar. Stir in the toasted almonds.

Assembly

Cut the sponge cake in half and place one layer onto a serving platter.

Spread the cream filling over top.

Add second layer of cake and drizzle glazed almonds over top.

Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.