This year for my mother's birthday, we decided to marry the best of all world's by ordering dinner at one of her favorite restaurants and picking it up for a nice, stay-in evening. No big mess in the kitchen to clean up and more time to bake? Sounds like a win to me.
Since it was a meal for four, I didn't want to make a big confection with lots of leftovers. My favorite cakes are always the small ones! Especially a 6-inch round, it's just right! They're more fun to decorate and you can spend extra time on the details.
Since it was a meal for four, I didn't want to make a big confection with lots of leftovers. My favorite cakes are always the small ones! Especially a 6-inch round, it's just right! They're more fun to decorate and you can spend extra time on the details.
The flavor of this cake is almond but it's really white in disguise. Yes, white is a flavor. That means egg whites for a nice, airy texture and an open palette for customization. I've used white cakes for several specialized flavors like Blue Moon and Thai Iced Tea. Simply pick your favorite white cake recipe and use a bit of almond extract.
The filling is my favorite raspberry spread- nothing fancy but full of delicious flavor. You can find the Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves at your standard grocery store. Use as much as you want, just make sure that you line the border of the cake with a sturdy frosting so it doesn't ooze out. I may have overdone it a touch this round.
And lastly of course was the swiss buttercream. As if I ever use anything other than the recipe from Smitten Kitchen! It's just too reliable to turn away. I added a few drops of almond extract just for fun but you can keep it vanilla. The color comes from the slightest bit of rose food dye as I don't like using artificial elements. You can imagine my devastation when I realized mint chocolate chip ice cream isn't naturally green!
At some some point, I would love to try this Almond Cream Frosting or experiment with this naturally tinted Hibiscus buttercream, but not this day. I needed a frosting that does well in the piping bag! My mother loves flowers, especially roses hence the decoration. This is one occasion where form trumps function. Just look at that adorable birthday girl's smile!
No fuss, no muss for a classy birthday for a classy lady!
As stated, the recipe for the Almond Cake can be found on Tastes of Lizzzy T's with basic raspberry preserves as the filling and Smitten's Swiss Buttercream.
