The almond and egg white cake is a soft and aromatic cake that is quickly prepared and disappears in no time; it’s great for breakfast or afternoon tea and is perfect when accompanied by a chocolate sauce.
Originally created as a no-waste recipe, it is meant to make use of egg whites that often remain from other preparations. For Easter, I prepared the zuppa inglese and decided to use the leftover egg whites to make the Luca Montersino’s almond cake; in just a few minutes and with few ingredients, you can create a refined, delicate, soft, and light dessert.
The use of almonds, with their aromatic note, gives the cake a soft and moist texture without needing to add fats. The texture is similar to classic cakes, not gummy and not reminiscent of meringue, I am sure you will be surprised.
Also try the other cakes with almonds:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 8 People
- Cooking methods: Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 436.08 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 42.56 (g) of which sugars 37.08 (g)
- Proteins 10.50 (g)
- Fat 24.77 (g) of which saturated 0.93 (g)of which unsaturated 0.78 (g)
- Fibers 5.12 (g)
- Sodium 196.73 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 6 oz egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups almond flour
- 3 tbsps rice starch
- 4 almonds (bitter or half a vial of bitter almond extract)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest (grated, my addition)
- 2 tbsps butter
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- to taste vanilla powdered sugar
Tools
- 1 Bowl large
- 1 Electric whisk
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Scale
- 1 Mold 22 cm springform pan or a 22 cm ring mold
Procedure
To achieve a stable whipped mixture, the egg whites should be at room temperature.
You can prepare almond flour at home by blending peeled almonds and bitter almonds in a cutter or use store-bought almond flour and add half a vial of bitter almond extract.
Place the egg whites in a large bowl with a pinch of salt, beat them with the whisk while gradually adding the sugar, continue to beat until you get a glossy and firm meringue.
In another bowl, mix well the starch, almond flour, half a vial of bitter almond extract, and the zest of half a grated lemon.
Combine the flours with the meringue in three parts, mixing the batter with a spatula from bottom to top to avoid deflating it.
The batter is ready.
At this point, you can pour the mixture into the greased and floured ring mold as I did, or you can grease a 22 cm pan, distribute 50 g of sliced almonds on the bottom and pour the mixture on top.
Bake the cake in a preheated static oven at 347°F for about 40/45 minutes. Perform the toothpick test to check the cooking. If necessary, cover the surface with a sheet of aluminum foil.
The almond and egg white cake is ready, remove it from the oven, wait ten minutes and turn it upside down on a plate. Let it cool completely and sprinkle it with plenty of powdered sugar.
Advice
Storage
The almond and egg white cake keeps at room temperature for 2/3 days in a cake container.
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