Almond Poundcake with Almond Glaze

Possibly one of my mom's favorite things is almond flavoring. She loves making cookies out of almond paste or cakes flavored with almond extract. It's just one of her things I guess. So she requested that I make her an almond poundcake with almond paste. I think this was a pretty good recipe (I still love her almond cookies better, which I need to search through her recipes to find), but it is a dense cake, but the flavor is surprisingly light. This recipe can either make a large bundt cake or 2 loaf pans. I made two loaves, one for our family and the other I gave to one of my mom's friends.

Almond Poundcake with Almond Glaze

For the Cake:

2C AP Flour

1C Almond Meal

¼t Baking Soda

Pinch of Salt

2C Sugar

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter, Softened

1t Vanilla Extract

1 ½t Almond Extract

8oz of Almond Paste, Room Temperature

1C Sour Cream

6 Eggs

For the Glaze:

2C Confectioners’ Sugar, Sifted

4-6T Milk

1t Pure Almond Extract

½t Vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 loaf pans with Pam and set aside.
2. In a standing mixer, cream together the butter and almond paste until light and fluffy. Pour in the sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing each one thoroughly until completely incorporated before adding the next egg. Then add in the vanilla and almond extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the AP flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the wet mixture, then add the sour cream, and then finished with the remaining flour mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pans and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick is inserted and it comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a plate, and then let it cool completely before drizzling the glaze.
4. In a bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and extract until incorporated and creamy. Once the glaze has come together, pour or drizzle it on top of the cooled cake. Let the glaze harden before cutting. 


*To make the almond meal, blend whole almonds in a food processor until completely pulverized; however, it will be chunky, which I thought gave it great texture. You can change the recipe to 1 ½C AP Flour and ½C Almond Meal or no Almond Meal at all. 

source: fallen almond poundcake. almond paste poundcake.