I saw a picture of this Toasted Almond Cake on Cook's Country's Instagram account a few weeks ago and immediately saved it because I knew I wanted to make it. What drew me in was the caramelized almond exterior. Plus, the idea of fluffy cake layers filled with almond flavored pastry cream sounded fantastic too.
Instead of the white cake layers that were called for in the original recipe I used CI's Yellow Sheet Cake recipe, baked in three 8" cake rounds. Pastry cream is used for the filling and the exterior of the cake is frosted with a German buttercream (butter and pastry cream whipped together). I found the German buttercream to be a bit too fussy so the next time I make this cake I'll use my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream instead. The toasted and caramelized almonds are the final decoration and really complete the cake.
Think this might be a new favorite of mine. The tender, fluffy cake combined with the pastry cream filling and nutty exterior is a real winner.
