Miniature Almond Cakes With Sugared Cherries And Kirsch Cream Recipes

Steps:

• For cake, preheat oven to 325 °F.
• Grease and line a 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Grease again and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
• Pulse marzipan, butter and sugar in a food processor until smooth.
• Add eggs, kirsch and vanilla and purée on high until smooth (scraping into the bottom of the bowl, if needed).
• Scrape batter into a bowl and stir in flour in two additions.
• Scrape into prepared pan and bake for 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool completely in the pan.
• For meringue layer, reduce oven temperature to 250 °F and line bottom of a 10-inch spring form pan with parchment.
• Pulse 1/3 cup sugar and almonds in food processor until ground.
• Toss with cornstarch and set aside.
• Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy, then add remaining 1/3 cup sugar and whip until a stiff peak forms.
• Quickly but gently fold in ground nuts and spread evenly into prepared pan.
• Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until dry.
• Run a spatula around edge of pan to loosen meringue, cool completely.
• For Kirsch cream, whip cream to medium peaks, and whip in icing sugar and Kirsch.
• To assemble, slice marzipan cake in half.
• Spread 1 cup of Kirsch cream over cake and sprinkle with ½ cup of cherries.
• Place meringue disk on top and spread with another cup of cream and ½ cup of cherries.
• Top with other half of marzipan cake and spread remaining cream, topped with cherries.
• Chill until ready to serve.
• Cake can be assembled up to 4 hours in advance.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush mini muffin tins with butter; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is lightly browned and fragrant. Skim foam from top, and remove from heat.
• In a food processor, finely grind almonds (you should have 1 cup), and transfer to a bowl; whisk in flour, sugar, and salt to combine. Add egg whites, and whisk until smooth. Stir in kirsch. Pour in browned butter, leaving any burned sediment behind, and whisk to combine. Let batter rest 20 minutes.
• Fill each prepared cup with 1 tablespoon batter. Push a cherry into batter of each cup, keeping stem end up. With a small spoon, smooth batter over cherries to cover.
• Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted near cherries comes out clean, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula or knife around edges to loosen; turn out cakes onto racks to cool completely. Cakes can be stored overnight at room temperature in airtight containers.

Steps:

• Make cake:
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter pan generously and dust with flour, knocking out excess.
• Break almond paste into pieces and pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add almond paste and vanilla and beat until combined well, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and occasionally scraping down side of bowl. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed 30 seconds. Finish mixing batter by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping bottom of bowl.
• Pour batter into tube pan, smoothing top. Bake in middle of oven, rotating pan halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean and edges begin to pull away from pan, 55 minutes to 1 hour total.
• Cool cake completely in pan on a rack. (Cake may shrink and buckle slightly, but don't worry. This won't be visible once cake is inverted.) Run a thin knife around outside and inside edges and invert a plate over pan, then invert cake onto plate.
• Make kirsch cream:
• Just before serving, beat together cream and kirsch in a chilled bowl with cleaned beaters until soft peaks form.
• Serve cake with kirsch cream and lingonberry preserves.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan.
• Place almond flour and confectioners' sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add egg white, almond extract and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and process until it all forms a paste.
• Add granulated sugar to the food processor and pulse until everything is well combined and crumbly. Add butter and vanilla, and continue processing until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the machine running, add eggs one at a time, processing until smooth between eggs.
• Stop the machine, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, and add flour, baking powder and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pulse a few times, until the dry ingredients are just integrated. (Be careful not to overprocess.)
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 to 70 minutes for a 10-inch pan and 70 to 80 minutes for a 9-inch pan. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cake cool completely before unmolding and serving.
• Put the peach slices in a bowl and taste a slice. If they seem tart, sprinkle peaches with a little confectioners' sugar.
• Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar. You can serve slices of the cake with the peaches and cream on the side or dollop some whipped cream on top of the cake and top with the peaches before cutting.

Steps:

• Make the chocolate ganache, if using: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat cream until bubbling (or place the cream in a glass measuring cup and heat it in the microwave). Remove from heat, add chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Transfer chocolate to a small container (preferably metal) and freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Scoop and roll into 3/4-inch balls. Note that the ganache is very soft and can be messy to handle, but getting perfectly round balls isn't necessary. Place in refrigerator until needed. Ganache balls can be prepared up to 1 week ahead.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a muffin tin.
• Using a food processor or blender, mix almond flour, confectioners' sugar and salt until powdery, about 30 seconds. Add eggs and almond extract and process until smooth, 30 seconds longer. Pulse in butter, cornstarch and baking powder. Scrape mixture into a large bowl.
• Using a beaters or an electric mixer, whip egg whites until very foamy. Gradually add granulated sugar while beating eggs until stiff peaks form.
• Using a spatula, gently and carefully fold a third of the egg whites into almond mixture to lighten it. Then, fold in the rest of the whites just until no streaks remain.
• Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Pull balls of ganache from refrigerator, if using, and place 1 ball in center of each cake, pushing it down halfway into batter. Or spoon 1 teaspoon cherry jam on top of each cake; do not push down. Return to oven and bake until light brown and a toothpick inserted into cake (and not the chocolate or cherry) comes out clean, another 8 to 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, preferably within 8 hours of baking.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter six mini Bundt pans; set aside. Spread sliced almonds out on a baking pan, and toast until golden brown. Transfer nuts to a bowl to cool.
• In a medium bowl, combine chopped almonds, light-brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside. In another medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 6 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until combined. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, and beat until smooth. Add 1/3 of reserved flour mixture and half of sour cream; beat to combine. Repeat. Add final third of flour mixture, and beat to combine.
• Fill each Bundt pan with 3 tablespoons batter, and spread evenly with a small offset spatula or spoon. Sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons of reserved almond-spice mixture. Top with additional 3 tablespoons batter; the batter should come to within 1/2 inch of the rims of the pans.
• Bake until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cakes to a wire rack to cool completely. Unmold cakes. Place cakes, flat sides down, on a wire rack placed over a baking pan.
• Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until color turns nut brown, about 5 minutes. Pour butter into a medium bowl, leaving behind any dark sediment. Stir in confectioners' sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons vanilla, and 3 tablespoons milk until smooth; add an additional tablespoon milk, if necessary, so glaze is pourable. Drizzle glaze over cakes, and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Dust pan with flour; tap out excess. Using electric mixer, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until light and creamy. Add almond paste, 1 piece at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in kirsch, almond extract and salt. Mix flour and baking powder in small bowl; add to batter. Beat just until blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
• Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.
• Transfer cake to platter. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.) Dust with powdered sugar and serve.