There are only a few more months of baking from Flo Braker's Baking For All Occasions. We will go on to another book in 2012. I selected the recipe this month. I love chocolate and almond paste frangipane just tops it off. The frangipane can be made well ahead of the baking of the cake. I use Solo brand pure almond paste. I was introduced to it when taking a class with Nick Malgieri a few years back. If your store does not have it, Amazon does. Leftover paste freezes beautifully. The cake is straightforward and uses dutch proccess cocoa powder - so there is a rich chocolate flavor. The cake batter is layered with the frangipane. Flo was very specific about the frangipane not touching the center tube or the sides of the pan. The surprise is when the cake is cut. A real surprise for me in that the frangipane had obviously melted into the chocolate cake and was barely apparent. Reading the recipe again, I cannot determine where I went wrong. I am glad I took a photo, or I might think I was crazy and didn't even dollop it on the cake batter. So here is my basically chocolate pound cake with a taste of almond. My chocolate loving friend will be delighted when I gift this to her. Check out the other ABC bakers to see how this cake is suppose to look.
http://avidbakerschallenge.blogspot.com/
Wow - what a tough but fun baking weekend. My Gold Ingots for HCB didn't turn out so well and now this. If anyone has any suggestions, please email me at lvinpv@hotmail.com. I think that sometimes comments do not come through on my blog. Have a good week and I will hope for better luck on next months recipe. Take care, lola
Hmm... interesting. Well, at least you could still taste the almonds. It sure looks nice and chocolatey. Thanks for a great recipe pick. I'll be baking it this weekend (a little late, but better late than never). Btw, I'll add a link to this post to the ABC site for you (sorry you're having issues with that).
ReplyDeleteLola,
ReplyDeleteI lost my frangipane too! And I really set it up so that it would be near the bottom. Disappointing but delish
Marzipan is supposed to be thicker and more pliable than almond paste. Maybe that's the difference. Regardless, it looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteOh..that's true, where did your frangipane go? Did you put it back in the fridge after you made it to harden it a bit? I just didn't like the fact that it sank right to the bottom. Thanks for picking this recipe! It's my new found fave recipe/cake now! :)
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