It was one of my 2020’s resolutions.

It was my grandfather’s most popular cake, the one he used to name the “Hungarian", better known actually as “almond delight”.

It is a wonderful cake, which requires patience and dedication. Here a few tips, prior to starting with the actual recipe:

• start in the morning. Consider that the cake should rest in the fridge overnight to allow firming of the almond garnish.

• get a standing mixer, you will really need one to beat the batter for the sponge cake. A whisk can be an option. However, it might take a long while to properly whip the batter and your arm might become numb :P

• for the preparation of the sponge cake, I followed the procedure and the tips of Di Carlo.

Ready? Steady? Go! :)

Almond delight

(Doses for 8-10 persons)

For the sponge cake

• 10 eggs

• 270 g of sugar

• 250 g of flour

• 50 g of butter

• 1 tea spoon of lemon juice

• 1.5 g of fine salt

For the filling

• 250 g of apricot jam

For the soaking

• 4 table spoons of maple syrup (replaceable with honey)

• 6 table spoons of water

For the garnishing

• 200 g of almond flour

• 200 g of sugar

• 2 egg whites

• 32 g of maple syrup

• 32 g of water

• 1 tea spoon of almond extract

For the polishing

• 2 table spoons of apricot jam

• 2 table spoons of water

Preparation of the sponge cake

Break the eggs in a medium-size pot. Add the sugar, the salt and the lemon juice. Beat the batter and warm it up under a low flame, until it reaches a temperature between 40 and 45 C (42 C, in my case). Turn off the flame and transfer the batter in a standing mixer. Whip the batter till you get a stable foam (the batter supposes to “write”). This step might take a while. Gently and step by step, incorporate the sieved flour.

Melt the butter. Mix it with 2-3 table spoons of the batter and, then, incorporate it to the rest. Butter a round-shaped mould (I have used one with removable bottom, of about 22 cm in diameter) and pour the batter into it. Bake the sponge cake in pre-heated convected oven at 170 C. Check the cooking with a cake tester. Once the sponge cake is ready, turn off the oven and set the cake aside to cool down.

Filling

Prepare the soaking solution by mixing the syrup with water. Cut the sponge cake in half and soak both internal faces with about 2/3 of the soaking solution (a cooking brush might turn useful at this point). Smear the cake with apricot jam and seal the two halves. Soak the surface of the cake with the remaining solution and set aside.

Garnishing

Mix the almond flour, the sugar, the egg whites, the syrup, the water and the almond extract. Knead all the ingredients till you obtain a homogeneous mixture. Place the sponge cake on a baking pan covered with parchment paper. Transfer the almond paste into a pastry bag (ideally, it should have a tip with one flat side and the other side zig-zagged) and garnish both the top and edges of the cake. The cake should feast in the fridge overnight to allow the almond paste to get firmer.

Baking

Bake the cake in pre-heated, convected oven at 170 C, till the surface will lightly brown. Set the cake aside and let it cool down.

Polishing

Stir the apricot jam with the water and polish the cake, so that the surface will be shiny.

Store in the fridge till the time to serve.