Recipe from Jody Adams
Adapted by Regina Schrambling
- Total Time
- 2 hours 30 minutes, plus cooling time
- Rating
- 5(3,608)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This buttery almond cake with lemon curd baked inside is like the ultimate citrus tart, without the heartbreak of pie crust. It's fancy enough to be served as a dinner party dessert, yet substantial enough to be served with Sunday brunch. (Bonus: you'll have several tablespoons of lemon curd left over. It's delicious on toast or pancakes.) —Regina Schrambling
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
- ¾cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 4extra-large eggs
- 6tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
- 9tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
- 1cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 2extra-large eggs
- ½cup ground toasted almonds
- 2tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
- About ½ cup heavy cream for garnish
- 1tablespoon almond liqueur (optional)
For the Lemon Curd
For the Cake
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
626 calories; 37 grams fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 67 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 51 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 251 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Step
1
For the curd, combine zest, juice, sugar and eggs in a heatproof bowl, and beat well. Add butter, and place over a saucepan full of simmering water. Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until mixture thickens into curd, about 5 minutes. Strain into a bowl, and press plastic wrap onto surface to keep skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool, at least 1½ hours.
Step
2
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch spring-form pan with 1 tablespoon butter, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour, shaking out excess.
Step
3
With an electric mixer, cream the remaining butter and 1 cup sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt, and stir in. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until they start to foam. Do not overbeat or the cake will be tough. Add eggs and ground almonds to batter, and mix well.
Step
4
Scrape batter into the prepared pan. Drop 8 individual tablespoons lemon curd around perimeter of batter, leaving a 1-inch border, and taking care to space drops evenly. Drop 3 to 4 tablespoons curd into center of batter. Refrigerate remaining curd for another use. Sprinkle cake with toasted almonds and 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, depending on taste.
Step
5
Bake until cake is toasty brown on top and a toothpick inserted into cake (not curd) comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan, and cool completely.
Step
6
Whip cream with almond liqueur. Present cake at table, and offer whipped cream on the side.
Ratings
5
out of 5
3,608
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Cooking Notes
molly
I cut half the sugar in the curd and half in the cake.
I used 3/4 c gluten- free cake flour instead of 1 c. flour.
I used 1/2 c. ground toasted almonds AND 1/2 c of almond flour in the batter.
I used 3 lrg eggs not 2 xtra large
i added a tsp of almond extract
and it was SO delicious.
Barbara
This recipe seemed so promising, and it was really quite good; however, next time I will do the following: use far more of the lemon curd-maybe even twice as much, add more almonds, and check the cake before the suggested baking time had elapsed.
Demetroula
Why hasn't this recipe been converted to weight measurements instead of volume???
Lori
I used a jar of Trader Joe's Lemon Curd and don't feel guilty in the least. The tart was delicious and a huge hit. Of course, I told my guests it was made from scratch...
jmp
I took a cue from the other notes and cut the sugar by about a third. I used Meyer lemons & added the zest from a third to the cake batter. I also used more slivered almonds. It isn't necessary to toast them since they toast while the cake cooks. The procedure for making lemon curd was odd. I have always kept the butter aside until the egg/sugar/juice mixture thickens. Then I fold in the the butter cubes to stop the cooking. I think it is easier to gauge the end result this way.
Janet Zimmerman
Instead of adding almond liqueur to the whipped cream, I folded in the rest of the lemon curd to make a light lemon mousse for the top.
Lynda Chitwood
Oh, my! This cake turned out beautiful and delicious!!
I don't buy extra large eggs, so I used 5 large for the curd and three for the cake....turned out perfect.
I will cut a bit of sugar from the cake next time, as it was quite sweet.
Plus, I want to do it as cupcakes.... Hmmmmm??
SH
Is almond flour the same as ground almonds?
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
Most of our newly-published recipes include both measurements, and we'd love to include both in all of our older recipes, but that will take some time. We're working on it. Thank you for your patience!
John
Cut down on plastic use/waste by using the butter wrapper to stop a skin forming on the lemon curd.
Diane
This is a GREAT cake and easy to make the day of a dinner party. The lemon curd technique works like a dream. It does make a lot of lemon curd. If you don't want extra, cutting it in half will be fine. Or make two cakes. The batter is a little stiff. I ended up adding a couple of tablespoons of the heavy cream and a touch of vanilla and almond extract. If you don't want to grind almonds, the Trader Joe's almond meal works great.
VaKnight
This cake is simply the best. I've baked it twice in two weeks now and both times it came out great. If you don't like your cake too sweet (as I don't), you can reduce the sugar. I used half the sugar in half in both the curd and the cake batter and it still came out sweet. I love almonds and doubled it.
MRR
I have made this cake many times and used all of the lemon curd, because isn't that the best part? It works just fine.
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
It freezes beautifully. Just be sure to wrap it very well with plastic wrap then with aluminum foil.
PJ
I made this yesterday for a dinner party at a friend's, and it was a huge hit. I used cup4cup gluten free flour and almond meal, Demerara sugar, a little less than the recipe called for. I had a 10" pan, so made 1 1/2 the cake recipe. For the curd, I got more than a half cup of juice from the lemons I used, and the curd was awesome. There was so much, I just made the cake again to use it up. Oh, and I served it with whipped cream and blueberry sauce. This is a keeper.
Rochelle
Linda's notes: Reduce sugar by a third for the curd and the cake. For the cake, use cup almond meal and a half cup of flour. When you add eggs, also add tsp vanilla and half tsp almond extract. I plopped all the curd on top of the cake and baked for 40 minutes in a 9 inch spring form pan.
Sue Welty
When the cake came out of the oven it looked beautiful ! As it cooled, the center sunk and I thought " oh no, maybe it wasn't done". I cut it later in the day for dessert and it was wonderful. I wonder if anyone else had the same thing happen ? In the photo it's hard to tell if that's how it's supposed to look or not. I didn't adjust any of the ingredients as some of the comments suggested and I thought it was perfect as is.
uppergolf
Fabulous recipe. I did not cook the curd long enough and I did use less sugar as others have suggested. Despite my technical error the flavor of this cake was delicious. Definitely will make again
Janet H.
Made this 4 times, always good. BUT...the lemon juice is a problem with this recipe. "The juice of two lemons" doesn't take into account the huge variance in size, juice content, and acid level of lemons. Depending on season and location, you could easily end up with too much or too little juice. Also if your lemons are old, they are less acidic. No wonder few want to attempt lemon curd. The author would do well to, at least, provide a liquid measurement of the juice in the recipe.
TK8181
Absolutely delicious. Like a chewy, toasty almond cookie with a perfect creamy, lemony filling. Saved under favorites and definitely making again, ASAP!!
penny
Make curd wayyy ahead of time
Susan
A couple findings: to have curd thicken, I found curd needed 12-14 minutes over simmering water, not just 5 minutes. Could be my eggs weren't entirely at room temp. Also, I like the interesting flecks of lemon zest in curd. If you prefer, you can skip the straining of curd, but not if you have any lumps!Excellent? Yum!
April
I didn’t like this recipe. I found the cake had too much of an egg flavour
Sam
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, not until browned. Mine came out clean at 40 minutes, but didn’t brown until another 15 minutes at 350. I love this cake, although it is more torte or cookie cake than butter cake. Try subbing pistachios for almonds. I always drop as much lemon curd as possible on it, leaving a middle spot bare for checking fineness. You could get away with half as much curd if you don’t want leftovers and still cover the cake. Absolutely make it.
Beverly S
Chewy goodness! I've made this several times and it's divine! I'm not sure if it's supposed to be somewhat dense and chewy. If it's supposed to be a drier cake, I'm doing something wrong-- but oh-so-right. It's so good!
Jules
This was fab and I can't wait until Sunday to make it again so that I can eat the entire thing by myself. I added most of the entire curd recipe to the cake, as I'm obsessed by lemon curd. Other than that I didn't change a thing. It's a keeper!
NCB
Delicious! Made as written, except used all the curd (so, so yummy) and used 2 T almond flour instead of ground toasted almonds. Did a simple blueberry compote on top.
Monique
I made this cake for Easter brunch and am happy to report that it's good. Very, very good. It was my first time making lemon curd and it won't be the last. I reduced the sugar in the lemon curd and cake, made my own toasted, ground almonds, used more lemon curd than the recipe called for and added a scant teaspoon of almond extract (Penzy's) to the batter. I served the cake to my guests, we all took bites, looked at each other and smiled.
Kathy Espinoza-Howard
30 minutes for the curd. Use Ina Garten’s recipe for lemon curd. Make the lemon curd at least one day ahead.
Kathy Espinoza-Howard
5 minutes isn’t enough time for the curd. Try 30 minutes. Look up Ina Garten’s recipe for lemon curd.
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