This recipe is form Karen Martini’s book feasting. In the book she makes it with cherries, however raspberries are a pretty good price at the moment, so I used them. You could of course use any fruit you like. Karen includes ½ teaspoon almond essence but I leave it out as I’m not keen on it. And I double the amount of almonds on the top. This cake tastes sensational either warm or cold. Don’t be disappointed that it sinks in the middle, that’s what I think is supposed to happen. Well at least it’s happened every time I made it, so I’d like to think it’s the recipe and not me.
Ingredients
180 grams butter
1 ½ vanilla beans, or vanilla extract
5 egg whites, room temperature
340 grams sifted icing sugar
110 grams plain flour
100 grams ground almonds
4 tablespoons flaked or slivered almonds
1 punnet raspberries or fruit of choice
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. Spray a loose based 24 cm flan tin with cooking oil, and place on a baking tray.
- Place the butter and vanilla in a saucepan and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the butter darkens and develops a nutty aroma. Pour into a bowl and cool to room temperature.
- Place the eggwhites in a large bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Add half the icing sugar and combine, then fold in the remaining icing sugar, flour and ground almonds. Stir in the vanilla butter.
- Pour into the prepared tin and scatter with the slivered or flaked almonds and the fruit. Bake for 1 hour or until the torte is puffed and just set. Remove form the oven and cool to room temperature. Dust with icing sugar and extra fruit if you like, and serve.