WHITE CHOCOLATE, LIMONCELLO AND ALMOND CAKE
A great cake, perfect for afternoon tea or a simple dessert. White chocolate and ground almonds ensure it is moist and keeps well. An indulgent white chocolate buttercream makes it extra special!
Make this cake in a bundt pan if you can, but it works well in a springform pan too. I have been developing this recipe to make it simple - the cake is made entirely in the food processor, so easy.
Throw in some berries, or decorate with fresh flowers, to make it pretty for your afternoon tea table.
Oh, and if you are wondering about the little cake in the photos - that’s my “test” cake. I often make a small cake when developing a recipe, just to see how the mixture turns out.
Cook’s treat!
Cake
200g white chocolate
160g butter
140g caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
4 free range eggs
100g ground almonds
100g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice and seeds of a passionfruit
50g limoncello
Buttercream Icing
300g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter
20mls limoncello
1/2 passionfruit, seeds and juice
75g white chocolate
For the cake
Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 23cm bundt pan or a 21cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper. Place the white chocolate in a food processor and blitz until a fine rubble.
Melt the butter on the stovetop or microwave. Add to the food processor with the caster sugar and lemon zest. Add the eggs and process. The mixture will look a little lumpy, this will bake out as the chocolate melts during cooking.
Sift the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the mixture, with the lemon juice, passionfruit and limoncello.
Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. The cake may need an extra 5-10 minutes. Cover the top with foil if it needs more time and it’s brown on top.
For the buttercream
In the food processor beat the butter and icing sugar until light and creamy. Add the passionfruit and seeds. Add the melted white chocolate that has been cooled to room temperature, this will give the buttercream extra stability for piping.
Cover the whole cake in a load of buttercream, then scrape back the icing with a palette knife to achieve the exposed “naked” effect. You could pipe rosettes over the cake to make it a little more fancy.
Serve the cake with fresh berries piled into the centre of the ring of the bundt cake. This cake keeps well and you can freeze it too.