Almond Limoncello Cake

From My Carolina Kitchen

¾ cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

1/3 cup extra light olive oil

5 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter

1 ½ - 7 ounce tubes (10 ½ ounces total) almond paste, crumbled

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel, (2 -3 lemons)

3 large eggs, brought to room temperature

1/3 cup Limoncello (Italian lemon liquor made with vodka)

Powdered sugar

Handful of carefully browned sliced almonds for garnish (optional but pretty)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder & salt together and set aside.

In a stand mixer, add ¾ cup sugar, 1/3 cup oil and 5 tablespoons room temperature butter & beat until light & fluffy. Add crumbled almond paste and grated lemon peel. Beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating well. Add flour mixture and blend.

Butter and flour a 9” spring form pan. Transfer the batter to the pan. Place the spring form pan on a sheet pan and place in the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool cake completely, then remove from spring form pan and carefully remove the cake from the bottom of the pan.

Brush top of cake with Limoncello or poke tiny holes in the cake and drizzle with the Limoncello. Can be prepared one day in advance at this point. Cover and store at room temperature. Right before serving, sprinkle with a little more Limoncello and powdered sugar. If desired, garnish with sliced almonds. Serves 8 to 12.

Cook’s note: You will have half of a tube of almond paste leftover. It can be kept, well wrapped, in a freezer baggie the refrigerator for a month or frozen for three months.

Adapted from Barbara Fairchild, Editor of Bon Appétit