Food · Recipe
Almond croissant cake with sourdough shatter crumb
A birthday almond cake pushed towards an almond croissant, for someone who loves them. Four decisions got it there:
- Sourdough edge: cakes have no pastry shatter, so day-old sourdough crumbs fried in butter give a yeasty, crisp topping.
- Brown butter, not buttercream: white chocolate buttercream would have masked the almond and been too sweet. Browned butter tastes like baked pastry.
- Embrace the crater: the 9-inch tin made the centre dip slightly. That dip holds a puddle of brown butter icing, like the fudgy frangipane core of a croissant.
- Syrup soak: soaking the hot cake compresses the crumb into the dense, damp texture of a twice-baked pastry rather than an airy sponge.
Ingredients
Cake base (1.5x, 9-inch tin)
- 225g unsalted butter, softened
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs + 1 extra yolk, room temperature
- 225g ground almonds
- 75g plain flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp almond extract
Syrup soak
- 50g caster sugar
- 50ml water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or a splash of dark rum)
Caramelised sourdough crumb
- 50g coarse sourdough breadcrumbs (pulsed from a day-old slice, crusts included)
- 50g flaked almonds
- 30g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Pinch of flaky sea salt
Brown butter icing (1.5x, fills the crater)
- 75g unsalted butter
- 225g icing sugar, sifted
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- 2-3 drops almond extract
Rum-almond mascarpone cream
- 250g mascarpone, fridge-cold
- 100ml double cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp dark rum
- 3-4 drops almond extract
Method
- Cake: heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Grease and line a 9-inch springform tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed until pale and very fluffy.
- Add the eggs and extra yolk one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl between each.
- Switch to a spatula and fold in the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and almond extract into a thick, airy paste.
- Smooth into the tin and bake 45-55 minutes. Check at 35 minutes and tent loosely with foil if deeply golden. Done when a skewer comes out clean.
- Syrup: while it bakes, boil the sugar and water until dissolved, then stir in the vanilla or rum.
- As soon as the cake is out, poke deep holes all over with a skewer. Brush the warm syrup on in three stages, letting it sink in between each. Leave in the tin to cool completely.
- Crumb: melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and toast the breadcrumbs for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the flaked almonds, sugar and salt and cook 2 minutes more until deeply browned and crisp. Tip onto a plate to cool.
- Assembly: once the cake is stone cold (ideally the next morning), melt the butter for the icing in a pan, swirling until it foams and the milk solids turn hazelnut brown. Take off the heat at once.
- Whisk in the icing sugar, almond extract and just enough milk for a thick, slow-flowing glaze.
- Put the cold cake on a plate. Pour the icing into the centre crater to level it, then spread the rest towards the edges.
- While the icing is tacky, press the cold crumb firmly into the top. Finish with a heavy dusting of icing sugar.
- For the mascarpone cream, whisk everything together until soft peaks form and serve alongside.
