Almond Breakfast Cake

I made this cake using a recipe found in Tartine's James Beard Award winning cookbook. It's outstanding and super simple to make. The best part is that it can be completely prepped the night before you want to serve it and then baked to perfection the following morning.

 It is part tea cake part crumb cake - SO tasty. 

I used fresh raspberries and blueberries for my fruit topping but you can use any other berries, plums, peaches, apples, pears, quince, or pineapple too. The book recommends baking this in an 8 or 9-inch glass cake dish. Also make sure to use almond paste not marzipan as marzipan contains a lower percentage of almond. You will also see that the recipe calls for almond meal - which is made from milling skin-on almonds and can be easily purchased at grocery stores such as Whole Foods in the flour/baking aisle. 

I made a couple of changes to the recipe. I used more fruit than called for and I had to bake the cake much longer than the book directed. You will see those changes reflected in the recipe below. 

Almond Breakfast Cake  

yield: 12 servings

Crumble Topping Ingredients 

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (room temp)

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp AP Flour 

2/3 cup Almond Meal 

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Sugar 

Pinch kosher salt 

Cake Ingredients 

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Almond Paste

1 cup + 2 Tbsp Sugar 

3/4 cup Unsalted Butter (room temp)

1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp AP Flour 

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

3 Large Eggs 

1/2 pint Blueberries

1/2 pint Raspberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F 

2. Butter or oil your baking dish 

3. Make your crumb topping. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix butter until creamy, then add flour, almond meal, sugar, and salt and mix only until the ingredients have evenly incorporated.  You DO NOT want a smooth mixture - it should be crumbly. Once done, set aside. 

4. Make your cake batter. Place almond paste in mixer and mix on low speed until paste is broken up.  Add sugar and increase speed to medium. Add butter and mix until there are no lumps (or very few). Add flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs all at once and mix until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. 

5. Pour batter into prepared dish. 

6. Top with fruit. 

7. Cover with Crumble. 

8. Bake for 45-65 minutes or until golden brown on top and cake is cooked through. Give the cake a shake - it should be set up - not wobbly in the center. If you test with a pick it will not come out fully clean as the fruit topping is wet and the cake is moist. 

9. Let cool for 10 minutes before enjoying.