Cakes you should taste before the end of the year

Chocolate and Almond Tiger Cake

This almond cake depends on lenders, the little, typically ingot-formed cakes originally made in Paris in the last part of the 1880s. The baked good gourmet specialist Lasne made and named them for his stockbroker clients, keeping them simple and slick to eat on the run - piece of cake. Made with egg whites, ground nuts and a great deal of dissolved margarine, the formula is enticingly riffable. My beloved take is the tigré, a round, chocolate-dotted cake finished off with a spot of ganache. Years prior, I misread the name, and I've called them tiger cakes from that point forward. My play on the tiger is a huge cake, somewhat less rich than the first, go through with cleaved chocolate and covered with enough ganache to leave obvious smircesh. Stockbrokers be careful.

Recipes 

5 tablespoons/70 grams unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

½ cup/65 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

⅔ cup/70 grams almond flour

6 large egg whites, at room temperature and lightly whisked

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

5 ounces/142 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

FOR THE TOPPING (OPTIONAL):

⅓ cup/80 milliliters heavy cream

3 ounces/85 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

½ cup/48 grams sliced almonds, toasted

Preparations  

STEP 1

Make the cake: Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and fit a circle of parchment paper at the base.

STEP 2

Bring the butter just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Turn off the heat and leave the saucepan on the burner to keep the butter warm while you make the cake batter.

STEP 3

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly blended. Add the almond flour and whisk. If the almond flour is lumpy, use your fingers to break up the clumps. Switch to a spatula and add the egg whites in 3 additions, stirring until the batter is smooth and easily flows off the spatula. Stir in the vanilla until incorporated. Add the butter in 3 additions, folding until it is completely incorporated and you’ve got a smooth batter with a light sheen. Stir in the chopped chocolate, mixing well. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly.

STEP 4 

Bake until golden brown, evenly risen and pulling away from the sides of the pan, 37 to 40 minutes. A tester inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and leave for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the sides of the pan, flip the cake over, remove the pan, peel away the parchment and invert the cake onto another rack. Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving or covering with ganache.

STEP 5

If you’d like, make the topping: Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate. Gently stir the chocolate and cream together until blended, thick and shiny. Pour the ganache over the top of the cake and use an offset spatula or kitchen knife to spread it across the cake. Scatter over the toasted almonds. Either leave the cake on the counter to allow the ganache to set a bit (it will never be really firm) or refrigerate the cake for 15 minutes to set the chocolate. The cake is best at room temperature. Covered, it will keep for about 3 days at room temperature.