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I still bake cakes; not as often as i would wish, but heck .. sometimes it comes down to choosing between sex or baking. 


This is just the sort of cake i love. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. It doesn't need more than a light dusting of icing sugar for a finishing hint of glamour, slices as a dream, fits a morning cup of coffee or an evening dessert, and the most sophisticated ingredient comes in a packet. It is a beautiful texture - more body than a sponge, but still fresh and light to bite. 

Nigella's Easy Almond Cake

INGREDIENTS:

250g softened unsalted butter
250g softened marzipan
150g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs
150g self-rising cake flour
25cm springform tube pan or patterned ring mold, buttered and floured

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Chop the butter and marzipan to make them easier to break down, and put them in the bowl of the food processor, fitted with the metal blade, with the sugar. Process until combined and pretty well smooth. Add almond and vanilla extracts, process again, then break the eggs one at a time through the funnel, processing again each time. Mix the flour and tip down the funnel, processing yet again, and then pour the mixture into the prepared pan, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 50 minutes, but check from 40. Then, when the cake looks golden and cooked and a cake tester or fine skewer comes out cleanish, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan before turning out. (This is when you will be feeling grateful if it's the springform you're using - mine wasn't, and hence the top is slightly roughen than the mould suggests)