British magazines, often quaintly out of date by several months, even years were a source of recipes, decorating ideas and more on plantations. This is a beautifully rich, sticky almond cake from the pages of a vintage edition of British Good Housekeeping magazine. Goes perfectly with a mid-morning cup of coffee and a visit from a neighbour.
225gms butter; 225gms caster sugar; 4eggs,beaten; 50gms plain white flour; 175gms almonds, blanched and ground; 2.5ml almond essence; 350gms marzipan; icing sugar to dust.
Grease and base line an 8 ½ inch spring release cake tin. Cream together the butter and sugar until very pale. Beat in the eggs gradually, adding a little flour to prevent curdling. Stir in the remaining flour. Gently fold in the ground almonds and essence. Roll out the marzipan larger than the cake tin. Using the tin as a template, cut out a round of marzipan. Place half the cake mixture in the cake tin. Top it with the rolled marzipan. Finish with the remaining cake mixture. Bake at 180 C (350 F) for about 45mins, or until firm to the touch. Cover lightly with foil if necessary. Cool. Wrap in foil and store for at least a day before serving. Dust with icing sugar.
Image Credits: Nithin Sagi
