There are several perks to writing a food blog, the best being the excuse to have delicious cakes, like this almond chiffon cake, in the house at all times. The only person who has an issue with this is my personal trainer, but I just remind him what job security it is for him. I also have an extensive (300+) cookbook library that I attribute to “research” when my husband asks where we will put them all, now that my book shelves are over flowing. Then there are the products companies send me to critique and review. I have received everything from peanut flour (which I adore) to a confectionery funnel (which is for portion control of pancakes and other runny stuff. Really, you have to make your pancakes the exact same size???). I will never review or endorse a product I don’t actually love and find value in.
Now back to the baking…this cake was inspired by my trip to Italy this past summer. The man who owned the home we rented introduced me to his favorite cookie, the ricciarelli. They are made from almond paste and egg whites baked into little rich clouds and dusted with pure white confectioners’ sugar. I was completely addicted to them after the first bite. They are available all over Tuscany and when baked fresh you want to sing their praises. The stale ones you buy in the tin are to be avoided and unfortunately that is what most of us have tried. After writing this description I realize I need to create and post a recipe for the actual cookie, but for now I have a cake that it inspired. It is light and spongy, but at the same time decadent because of the almond paste. The cake is great on its own with a cup of coffee for breakfast or with ice cream or coulis for dessert.
For recipe…
Ricciarelli cookies on the counter in San Gimignano (the best I had).
A typical day’s sampling of the local Tuscan bakery.
(My average breakfast when traveling. Now you see why I need the personal trainer.)
Ricciarelli (rich-ee-a-relly) Chiffon Cake
2 cups (220g) Cake Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
7 ounces (200g) Almond Paste
5 egg yolks
1 cup (200g) sugar
1/2 cup (118 ml) oil (I used 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup vegetable oil)
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
8 egg whites
confectioner’s sugar for the top
To make the cake: preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Cream the almond paste until smooth and then add egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, oil, water and extracts. Cream together until smooth, about 3 minutes, set aside.
Whip the egg whites until foamy then add 1/2 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks, they should be stiff enough to hold onto the whip when lifted out of the bowl, but the peak will be soft enough to flop over like a dairy queen ice cream cone. (If you over whip the egg whites they will not have any elasticity left to rise when they get to the oven.) Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the whites and fold it in gently using a rubber spatula. Repeat two more times with remaining flour.
Fold the egg white mixture into the almond paste mixture, again in 3 additions.
Place the batter into an ungreased 10-Inch Tube Pan
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove almond chiffon cake from the oven and invert the pan over the neck of a bottle to cool. This guarantees that the cake will not collapse while cooling.
Dust almond chiffon cake with lots of confectioners’ sugar and enjoy!
Hi Zoe,
Can you please tell me if you think this cake will do well as a two layer 1/4 sheet cake filled with strawberries and cream & topped with berries? I have a client that wants just that – this recipe sounds delicious, but not too sure if it has the body to hold up to the filling & topping.
Thanks so much for your time!
Stef
Hi Stef,
I would try baking the layers rather thick in the sheet, so there is some body to the cake. How many layers does your client want? Is there time for a test run? If you try it, let me know how it goes?
Thanks, Zoë
Whoops! One more question. I can’t seem to find almond paste in my area. Is there an alternative to use for it? Thanks again!
Blessings,
Danette
You are so awesome! Thanks so much for responding. It really means a lot to me and I am sure so many others that you take the time to do that.
Blessings,
Danette
Thanks Danette,
I so appreciate your note!
You can find almond paste on the web. http://www.amazon.com/Love-Bake-Baking-Pastes-10-Ounce/dp/B001ELLC9C/ref=pd_bxgy_gro_img_b
Cheers, Zoë
This cake looks great but I have some concerns about removing the cake. When it is cooling it doesn’t fall out hanging upside down on the bottle. How do you then get it out after it is cooled since the pan is “ungreased”? Thanks so much!
Blessings,
Danette
Hi Danette,
It won’t fall out if it is baked properly, but just to make sure be sure to use a regular (not nonstick) pan. You just need to let it sit upside down for the first 15 minutes or so. Until it is no longer hot. When the cake is cooled it may require a little nudging with a knife around the edges, but often times it will just come out. The steam from the cake releases it.
Enjoy, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
I have this cake in the oven; it has about 15 minutes left to go. Mine is very, very rounded on the top. Is is supposed to be like that? I see your cake is inverted onto a plate so the top is flat, but I wondered if it bakes with a very poufy top that just flattens out on the plate. Also, mine did not rise as much as yours. Could that be because I used AP flour? I couldn’t find the King Arthur cake flour anywhere.
Thanks for your help and I can’t wait to eat it. I love all things almond!
Priscilla
Hi Priscilla,
The AP flour may have had an effect. That flour has more protein and creates more structure for the gas bubbles to be caught in. This can result in a domed cake. If it didn’t flatten out after baking you can always trim the domed part off.
Thanks, Zoë
I finally got the courage to make the chiffon cake. Unfortunately, I over beat the egg whites. I’m glad you explained this baking error for Jess. The picture looks more like an angel food cake. What is a chiffon cake? Is it the same as a sponge cake? Even though my cake did not rise as much as yours, it still tasted very good. I could eat almond paste all by itself. Thanks for the recipes & pictures. They are an inspiration!
Hi Jeannine,
The two cakes are very similar, but an angel food is only whites with no fat in it at all. A chiffon is a type of sponge cake, but it much richer than say a genoise.
I will improve the directions to reflect your problems with the egg whites. Thank you very much for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, but I hope you’ll give it another shot to experience it with a lighter texture.
Cheers, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
I just tried making this cake. I followed the recipe exactly – down to the King Arthur cake flour – however, mine didn’t rise as much as yours did in the picture. I added the flour mixture – in three parts – to the whipped egg whites, and that’s where I felt I went wrong. Was I supposed to add the flour to the almond mixture instead, then fold the whipped egg whites into that?
Please post your Ricciarelli recipe soon!
PS. Love your blog and your cookbooks.
Hi Jess,
Thank you for trying the cake. Did it rise at all, just not as much. This can happen if the whites are whipped too much. Were they still silky and smooth, but kept a peak, although not rigid? If the whites are too stiff they no longer have any elasticity to them and will not expand when baking.
Your method of folding the flour gently into the almond paste and egg mixture was right.
Thanks, Zoë
I have a garlic peeler…a rubber tube you fill with garlic, roll with your hands, and voila! I never use it though, because I always have a knife on hand to smash my garlic with…same effect, fewer dishes to wash.
Thanks, Zoe, and I love ABin5!
Bethany
The strangest object I have in my kitchen is one putty-colored microwaveable omelette-maker, a plastic half-moon-shaped container that opens like a book so beaten eggs and other omelette-worthy filling can be poured into one side of the device, which is then closed and microwaved to cook the scramble into a puffy frittata-like shape that in no way actually resembles an omelette.
This silly thing was my poor better half’s way of appeasing me while he learned to master cooking a perfect classic omelette in the traditional way (something he now executes flawlessly) and before he learned the utter idiocy of such culinary unitaskers. He had just started what has since become an obsession with cookery, and has morphed into an impressive, creative home cook who doesn’t need recipes and wins cooking competitions. We used it only once, whilst I hid my smirk behind my napkin, touched at his attempt to give me a decent breakfast. Needless to say, microwaved eggs taste horrible. We have held on to the ridiculous gadget for posterity, and laugh every time we come across it in the kitchen.
I’d have to say our strangest tool is a banana hanger. You hang the bunch of bananas off it to keep them fresh. I don’t even know that we’ve used it!
The oddest thing I could find is a tin if tiny cookie cutters. So tiny I’d never use them fir anything-1/2″ or so.
My oddest gadget is one my husband found for me at a thrift store, I believe it is a jar lid opener, but it looks like a medieval torture device!
It has these jagged metal serrated edges that are stacked in concentric circles on top of each other with a hinge at the top so it opens and closes like a metal nutcracker/lobster cracker! It really doesn’t work that well either!
Nothing odd in my kitchen (okay, there’s me), so I’ll have to go with a favorite – a juicer that belonged to my grandmother. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m into gadgets but think this was one of the weirder ones..http://www.asseenontvguys.com/penguin-tea-timer.aspx
I have a couple of “odd” kitchen tools . One is a plastic pickle keeper that has an inner part with a handle so you can lift the pickles out of the juice. It’s over 30 years old. The other is an aluminum tube that you’re supposed to bake bread in. I may have used it once with bad results.
Battery Operated Salad Dressing Mixer, I know very ridiculous. I have never used it, a mason jar works perfect for me!
Hey lady!
Oddest thing in my kitchen…hmmm…it would have to be the little wooden “push stick” that is used to pull/push out the rack in the oven that came with our cabin when we bought it….took about a month before I figured out what it was…probably a Norwegian tool of some sort?? But it works slick! I’ll have to show you! 🙂 xo J
My oddest kitchen piece is my Great Grandma’s 150 or so year old cast iron skillet, which we use for deep dish pizza!
I have a Coeur a la creme mold that some may not know what it is or do with it, I do use it, made one for Christmas!!! My favorite gadget would be my Kitchen Aid red stand mixer for sure! Love it!
The oddest tool I have is the piece of plastic rectangle that has varying sized holes in it that is used to measure the amount of pasta you need per person. Not sure how many people actually use those.
It’s not weird, but I have this electric skillet that I’m not quite sure what to do with. When would I use it that I couldn’t use the stovetop or my handy dandy crock pot?? 🙂
That cake looks awesome! Love the plates too~
I have fruit scoops. Kinda like a device that will scoop avocado out of it’s skin. I think they are strange. But they were a gift.
I love my blender. I couldn’t/wouldn’t have a kitchen without my handy blender. It’s the one thing I would save in a fire.
Hmmm… I’d have to say the strangest kitchen tool I have is a simple spoon with a winky face in it 🙂 Adorable!
I don’t have any odd tools per se, but my favorite tool is my WestBend bread maker. I use it 2-3 times a week to knead dough. love it!