How to Make Delicious Almond Cake with Saffron Flavor

Almond cake is a traditional Spanish dessert dating back to the 16^th century. Like many traditional foods, the recipe got different versions in different regions and countries over time and is now available with different flavors like berries, orange, and even matcha. Here, we are going to give a simple recipe for the saffron almond cake. If you are a saffron lover and the saffron flavor and color bewitch you as well, try this almond cake with our high-quality saffron.

The time needed for this recipe for 8-10 people is about 1 hour, 25 minutes to prepare the ingredients and 30 minutes to bake the almond cake.

Ingredients

For cake

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup fine semolina flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup almonds, (for best results, grind blanched almonds)
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of cooking salt
• 4 eggs
• Zest of orange (2 teaspoons)
• Zest of lemon
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• Powdered sugar for topping, if desired
• Use cardamon (1 tsp. freshly ground cardamom seeds) or rose water, if desired

For syrup

• 1 cup/240 milliliters orange juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 6 whole cloves
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1 (1-inch) piece of cinnamon stick
• Pinch of saffron
• 12 dried apricots, softened in boiling water and drained

Instruction to make the almond cake with saffron:

Heat oven to 350°. Lightly butter and flour a 10-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper, and also butter the paper

Mix the semolina flour, sugar, almonds, baking powder, and salt. Add in the melted sugar and then add beaten eggs, one at a time, and whisk. Then add the lemon and orange zest and beat well and pour into the pan. (add the rose water or cardamom … in this stage if desired). Do not overmix.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir in salt.

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Shake pans gently. Bake it for 30 minutes at 350°. The cake is ready when you insert a skewer in it and when out it is clean. Let it cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes.

Now that the cake is ready and is cooling, make the syrup. Mix orange juice, sugar, honey, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, and apricots and bring to boil in a saucepan. When the sugar is completely dissolved, simmer it gently for about 5 minutes and set aside. Pour syrup evenly on the cake which you have previously made holes in with a skewer. Top the cake with the desired dried fruit and leave it to absorb the syrup for 1 hour.

Important Notes:

For a better result, grind saffron filament with a mortar and pestle and dissolves in hot water to get the best flavor, aroma, and color

There are recipes with milk as well. If you are interested to use the version with milk, add the ground cardamom, almonds, saffron, and orange zest to the milk and add to the egg yolks. Finally, mix it with the egg white which you have already whisked to form a foam.

Ready to eat. It can be served with vanilla ice-cream, whipped cream, or jam. You can also top the cake with chopped almonds/pistachios. If you want to use almond for topping, spread it on top of the almond cake before it bakes in order to get a final crispy result.