Almond semolina cake

Here I go with another almond recipe.  I can never try too many because I just love almonds!  I particularly love pastries with nuts.  This is one of those cakes that I can enjoy any day (and any time) and never get sick of; it's not too sweet and just totally delicious. That's why you see me lingering on this theme, making many renditions of this cake.  This one is special with a bit of semolina flour and a slightly jazzed-up topping.

It was worth running around a few supermarkets to find the semolina flour I needed for this cake. I've never baked with semolina before though we used it once in a cooking class to make pasta. There's regular all-purpose flour in this cake but the addition of semolina gives it a unique little twist that I liked.  I think I expected a gritter texture, like cornmeal or even almond meal, but finely-ground semolina blended right in yet added a very subtle bit of texture and a hint of nuttiness that works really well with almonds (and other nuts, I'd imagine).

Like any surefire great almond cake, this one has some almond paste (another one of my favorite things) tucked inside.  It's moist and so fragrant and flavorful.  The topping is fun and delicious at the same time.  Instead of just scattering sliced almond on top before baking (though nothing wrong with that!), you kick it up a notch by stirring it with a little bit of frothy egg whites and brown sugar. That produces an extra crunchy, sweet topping that's pretty addictive!

This cake is also light and fluffy thanks to folding separately whipped egg whites into the batter.  It reminded me of one of our all-time favorite treats on earth - tri-color cookies, which is made the same way with whipped whites folded into the batter.  When we had this cake for dessert one night, my 8-year old said "mmm...it tastes just like tri-color cookies!"  I couldn't help but beam with pride...maybe he does take after his mama just a little!

I'm really happy I bought that 6-inch round cake pan with the removable bottom.  I used it to scale down the original recipe and make a small version.  It's just right for my small family and gives me the chance to try out more recipes and play more often in the kitchen.  That said, my little guy honestly said he loves this cake and wish there was more!  (Though in all fairness, there are obviously plenty of times when he tells me he doesn't like something - he can be quite blunt.)