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When I was in university, I once bought a tub of soured cream, with no real plans of what to do with it. As with many impulse buys, it sat in my fridge for far too long and quickly approached its 'Use By' date. When that came, I was determined to find some way not to waste it and baking was my easiest solution. I found recipes for coffee cakes online, which used sour cream in place of other liquids, such as buttermilk. Unfortunately for following these recipes, I was missing other key ingredients like walnuts or maple syrup. I did, however, have a strange surplus of ground almonds and figured amaretto could never hurt a situation. Thus, my Amaretto Almond Coffee Cake was born. Developed in part from desperation for not wasting a carton of cream and in part from a desire to add amaretto to pretty much anything...
Amaretto Almond Coffee Cake
For this recipe, start off by preheating your oven to 175C/160C Fan (350°F) and prepare your cake tin. Due to the streusel topping, it is best to use a springform tin. You don't want to flip this at the end and risk losing some of your topping! The first time I made this, I didn't have a springform nor did I consider the looseness of the streusel on top. Needless to say my kitchen floor paid the price.
To make your batter, first cream together butter and sugar. As long as your butter is well-softened, this is easily done by hand. Then, add your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once well-blended, add the soured cream, vanilla and amaretto, whisking until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together your dry ingredients (the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt). Add this to your sugar mixture and whisk well.
Streusel Mix
In a small bowl, make your streusel. Blend all streusel ingredients together and mix until a crumbly texture (like a crumble or crisp topping).
Coffee Cake Layering for the Oven
Pour half of your almond coffee cake batter into your prepared tin. Spread evenly and sprinkle about ⅓ of the streusel over this. Then finish pouring your cake batter into the tin, carefully spreading out over the top. Finish by sprinkling your remaining streusel in a thick layer over the cake. Now, you are ready to bake!
I would estimate this to bake for about one hour. Most recently mine took about an hour and ten minutes. I would suggest checking regularly after about 50 minutes. Removing as soon as a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for half an hour to cool.
Finishing Off the Product
Once it has cooled for about half an hour, remove the spring form and lift off of the base. Carefully transfer to a cake plate. Mix together your glaze ingredients to form a thin coating and drizzle this over the top of the cake. This is now ready to serve at any point! I would wait another half hour or so, for this to cool to room temperature for the flavours to come through.
Amaretto Almond Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (185g)
- 1½ cup caster sugar (330g)
- 3 eggs
- 1¼ cup soured cream (300mL)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tablespoon amaretto
- 2½ cups plain flour (380g)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Ingredients for Streusel
- ¼ cup light brown muscovado sugar (60g)
- ½ cup plain flour (75g)
- 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup ground almonds (80g)
Ingredients for Glaze
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoon amaretto
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175C/160C Fan (350°F). Grease and flour a springform cake tin.
- For your cake, cream together butter and sugar. Then, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and add the sour cream, vanilla and amaretto.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, and salt. Add this to your wet ingredients and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, mix your streusel ingredients together until it is the texture of breadcrumbs.
- Pour half of your cake batter into your prepared tin, cover this with a layer of the streusel (about ⅓ of it). Then add the rest of your cake batter and top with the remaining ⅔ of the streusel mix.
- Bake this for about an hour, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 30 minutes before glazing.
- When time to glaze, release the cake from the springform pan. In a small bowl, mix together your icing sugar and amaretto (amounts may vary slightly dependent on the consistency you prefer for your glaze). Drizzle this across the top.
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