Name: Almond Layer Cake
Total time: 3 h 15 min
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups (9 ounces/255 grams) cake flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (13 ounces/369 grams) sugar; 6 large eggs , room temperature; 5 tablespoons slivered almond; 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract; 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter unsalted butter , melted and hot

Why This Recipe Works

To create a rich layer cake, we turned to our Easy Almond Pound Cake recipe. Classic pound cake recipes tend to be very particular, requiring ingredients at certain temperatures and finicky mixing methods to ensure a proper emulsion of the eggs and batter. (One wrong step and you end up with a curdled batter and a dense, heavy cake.) For a simpler, foolproof cake, we discovered that hot melted butter (rather than softened) and a food processor were key. The fast-moving blade of the processor plus the hot melted butter emulsified the liquid ingredients quickly before they had a chance to curdle. Sifting the dry ingredients over our emulsified egg mixture in three additions and whisking them after each addition allowed us to incorporate the dry ingredients easily and ensured that no pockets of flour would mar our cake. For an almondy twist on this rich cake, we added almond extract and slivered almonds to the mix when we processed the sugar and eggs.

Before You Begin

We developed this recipe using Softasilk Cake Flour.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch or three 8-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.

Process sugar, eggs, almonds, vanilla, and almond extract in food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With processor running, add melted butter in steady stream until incorporated. Transfer sugar mixture to large bowl.

Sift flour mixture over sugar mixture in 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition until few streaks of flour remain. Continue to gently whisk batter until almost no lumps remain.

Divide cake batter evenly among prepared pans (about 1¾ cups batter per pan). Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 24 to 28 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run paring knife around edges of pans to loosen. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours.