Almond Strawberry Cake (Moist & Easy)

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• This strawberry almond meal cake is an easy cake to make and uses easily available simple ingredients.
• It's made from scratch and is all natural.
• It is a perfect way to use up strawberries during strawberry season.
• You can make the strawberry filling ahead of time and get to bake this delicious cake anytime you feel like eating it, even when strawberries are not in season.
• The cake has a lovely moist texture and pairs wonderfully well with the crunchy nut topping. Nothing beats a warm slice of this moist cake with its sweet strawberry and crunchy nut topping and hot cup of tea on a lazy afternoon!

📋Ingredients

• All purpose flour + baking powder + salt - combine these ingredients and mix well with a whisk (or sift) before adding into the cake batter. Use fine salt.
• Ground almond (almond meal) - this is literally almonds that are ground to a fine powder. This adds a lovely nutty taste to the cake.
• Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - fine sugar works best for cakes as it dissolves more easily than coarse sugar.
• Butter - I use salted butter. In fact, I use salted butter in all my recipes. If you use unsalted butter, add a small extra pinch of salt to the recipe.
• Eggs - Use large eggs (large size)
• Vanilla extract (or almond extract) - for the flavoring.
• Almond flakes - Contribute to the lovely crunch on the cake.
• Strawberry compote - can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

🧾Substitution and Variations

• Instead of a round 8-inch cake pan, this moist almond cake can also be baked in a tart pan with fluted edges (make sure it is 8 inches in diameter and the sides tall enough to hold the cake batter.  It will make a pretty cake, perfect for Mother's Day.
• For topping, instead of almond flakes, you can also add sliced strawberries before baking.
• For additional flavor, add 1 tablespoon of grated orange zest after adding the flour mixture into the cake batter.
• To make a double layer cake, double the recipe and bake the cake in two 8-inch cake pans. Omit the almond flakes on top. You can sandwich and cover the cake layers with almond buttercream (make the buttercream icing as provided here and replace vanilla extract with almond extract). Sprinkle the roasted almond flakes on top if you wish.

👩‍🍳How to Make

Preparing the strawberry compote and the almond flakes

• Start by preparing the strawberry compote or filling and the almond flakes. Follow my recipe here for the strawberry compote. The compote and be made a few days in advance and kept refrigerated.
• As for the almond flakes, roast them lightly either on a stove top or in the oven.
• If using the stove top, use medium heat to toast the nuts. They get roasted again in the oven along with the cake, so toasting them too much will leave you with overly browned nuts on this strawberry almond meal cake.

Mixing the cake batter

1. For the almond flakes, place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray and toast them in the oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool down.
2. In a separate medium bowl or large bowl of a stand mixer or a hand electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (with a paddle attachment) at medium speed. This should take around 2 minutes. In between, scrape the bowl at least once.
3. Add the eggs into the creamed sugar and butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl before giving the creamed mixture a final round of beating.
4. In a separate small bowl, mix the all purpose flour, baking powder, and almond flour with a hand whisk. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. You can do it all at once.
5. Mix well to incorporate the flour and the almond flour mixture. And then mix in the vanilla extract.
6. Pour batter into the prepared pan (a well-greased and floured or parchment paper lined, 8-inch cake pan). 

The cake topping

1. Drop small bits of the strawberry filling (about half a teaspoon drops) all over the top of cake batter. 
2. Use a toothpick or a skewer to swirl the strawberry filling onto the cake batter in a circular motion.
3. Finally, sprinkle the toasted almond flakes all over the top of the cake. The amount mentioned in the recipe card below is sufficient to cover the top of this almond strawberry cake generously. 
4. Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for about 35 to 40 minutes. Test if the cake is done with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean or with just a few soft crumbs, the cake is ready. You can remove it from the oven. Let the strawberry almond tea cake cool in the tin for a few minutes, loosen the edges with a palette knife or an offset spatula and turn out on a wire rack to cool it down completely.

🍽️Serving & storage

• This strawberry and almond flour cake is best served on the day it is baked. That way, you get the almond flakes on top of the cake all nice and crunchy as you eat the cake. Keeping it for the next day is perfectly fine too, but the almond flakes tend to lose their crunch, but still good nevertheless.
• Use a serrated knife to cut the cake. That way, it is easier to cut through the almond flakes on the cake without causing them to fall out.
• This cake lasts for a good 3 to 4 days at room temperature. If you wish to keep it longer, wrap it in plastic wrap (to ensure it does not dry out) and refrigerate it, or store it in an airtight container. Bring it to room temperature before consuming.

💡Expert Tips

• If you do not have almond flour (or almond meal), you can always make your own by grounding almonds (without the brown skin) to a fine powder in a food processor. You need not sieve the ground almonds, and if you find any tiny bits of almonds in it, it is perfectly fine for this almond flour strawberry cake.
• Roast the almond flakes separately before putting them onto the cake batter. This will ensure the flakes on your cake are perfectly crunchy after baking. When roasting the almond flakes, suffice if you roast them lightly. You can do this in the oven or over the stove top.
• Make the strawberry compote (filling) ahead of time. My strawberry compote recipe is made using fresh berries and lasts well in the refrigerator, so making it earlier helps save time when baking this almond cake.
• Adjust the amount of the filling on the cake to your liking. If you wish to have more filling in the cake, you can always increase it. 
• Make sure your cake tin is well greased and flour or lined with parchment paper to ensure easy release of the cake. If you are using a fluted cake pan or tart tin, make sure to well grease and flour the sides of the tin for easy release of the cake. 

💭FAQs