在担任糕点厨师的工作中，我经常对精心制作的蛋糕和细致的糕点大惊小怪。但是，当我在家烘烤时，我最喜欢的甜点是那些强调众所周知的“更少”的甜点。这就是为什么我喜欢做这个brown-butter almond cake. I’ve borrowed a few tricks for boosting flavor from the savory cook’s repertoire—toasting nuts and browning butter—and combined them with a classic pastry technique—making a soft meringue—to create a single-layer cake with satisfying flavor and a tender texture. My friends love this cake with just a simple dusting of confectioners’ sugar, but sometimes I dress it up for an autumn evening by serving it withpears roasted in butter and sugar. As a bonus, I make an easy caramel sauce to drizzle over the cake by adding a little cream to the pan in which the pears were roasted.

Toasted nuts and brown butter set this cake apart

Two main components give this cake its delicate flavor: finely ground almonds and browned butter. I like to lightly toast the almonds first to really tease out their flavor. It only takes a few minutes in the oven for the almonds to turn a light golden brown. Just be sure to let them cool completely before grinding. When warm, the natural oils in the almonds turn to liquid, and you risk ending up with ground nut butter.

Melting the butter until the milk solids turn brown adds another layer of nutty flavor to the cake. The French term for this butter is beurre noisette, or hazelnut butter. It gets this name from its color and aroma. I also like to stir a little rum into the melted butter (once it’s cool) to add a sweet dimension to the cake without making it taste boozy.

柔软的蛋白酥皮使这个单层蛋糕的体积

由于这个蛋糕的黄油融化了，您不能像在奶油蛋糕中那样用糖打败糖。取而代之的是，我依靠鞭打蛋清的举重。在打败白色时慢慢添加糖有助于增加对白人的稳定性，并最大程度地减少过度挑战的风险。借助这样的柔软的蛋白酥皮，折叠将变得平稳且容易，并且您将保留的音量比牢固且轻松放气的牢固的蛋白甜饼会保留更多的音量。

Unlike an angel food cake, this cake will only rise about an inch in the oven, because the weight of the ground nuts works against the light foam. But it still requires a cake pan with about three-inch sides. A ten-inch springform pan works perfectly.

I love that this cake can be made ahead and served at room temperature. But I find it especially satisfying on a cool, fall night brought out to the table still warm from the oven.