Almond Custard Cake

Even though we have been home from Portugal for a couple of months now, I guess I am still in a Portugal frame of mind; certainly when it comes to food. I have been real good about not making or eating desserts for quite awhile now, but I do make exceptions for special occasions. Having my friend Bob come in and stay with us was a special occasion. I broke the rules, but only slightly. I made a Portuguese almond custard cake, or Morgado or Bolo de Amêndoa e Doce de Ovo, for the occasion. This cake is native to the southern Algarve region of Portugal. But I have been good. I’ve only had 1 tiny little piece, as good as it is. 🙂

Custards are very popular all over Portugal. Back in it’s early days, the priests wore starched collars. Their collars were starched with egg whites. They had so many egg yolks leftover that they needed to find ways to use all the egg yolks. The nuns decided to make custards with all the yolks. Custards of all kinds, for many of their desserts was their answer.

Almond trees tend to grow in tandem with grape vines in a lot of wine regions, so almonds were another product that were readily available and in abundance. Almonds are also prevalent in Middle Eastern cooking and particularly the Moorish cooking from the early Moorish influences in Portugal. In the 8th century, the Moors brought both almond trees and citrus trees to the Algarve region of Portugal. The nuns of the area created this dense almond cake or the morgado, and added the custard or the doce de ovo (a thick, sweet egg custard) as a sweet treat. When religious orders were suppressed and convents were closed in the wake of the 1834 Liberal Revolution, nuns and monks lost their funding and were forced to sell their treasured recipes to survive. The recipes seeped into the general public and became closely tied to regional Portuguese bakeries. The Portuguese love their sweets and especially love their custards.

Almond Custard Cake

This recipe only has a few basic ingredients that are blended together for a perfect dessert and sweet treat. Since my cookbook is from Portugal, it has everything in grams and ml. I will be nice and give you both. 🙂

The Cake

3 cups or 400 g ground almonds

6 eggs spearated

1 1/4 cup or 250 g sugar

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180*C.

Spray an 8 1/2 inch cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Place the almonds in a food processor and mix until they become a powder. You can mix in the salt, cinnamon and lemon zest with the almonds or mix them in with the eggs. Either way is fine.

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar until it is thick and foamy, then fold into the almond mixture.

Fold everything together gently, so to not flatten the egg whites, then pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan, then slice in half through the middle.

The Custard

This custard is a lot more dense than an English custard.

3oo g or 1 1/2 cups sugar

150 ml or 2/3 cup water

10 egg yolks

10 g or 1 heaping TBSP cornstarch

Mix the sugar and water together and place in a medium saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a boil without stirring. Let boil for about 3-4 minutes or until it reaches a temperature of 105-107*C or 225* F on a candy thermometer. Allow to cool slightly

Mix the egg yolks and cornstarch together well.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the sugar water, whisking constantly while pouring. This is called tempering. It prevents the eggs from scrambling in the hot liquid. Whisk until the the mixture thickens.

Spread half the mixture on one layer of the cake, then place the other layer on top and spread the rest of the mixture on top of the cake.

I toasted some almond slivers, made whipped cream and topped my cake with them.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. Delicious! This was yet another smashing success. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Make the most out of it and live life to the fullest. Enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.