Almond Crusted Pound Cake, Crunchy, Rich and Decadent

This Almond Crusted Pound cake is something I’ve been paying around in my head for a while. I’ve wondered if you coat the outside of the cake with almonds, would they toast up and become crunchy in the oven or would they overcook and become a burnt mess. The answer is a complete success, and yes, you get a wonderfully crunchy and delicious crust!

The most important thing is to heavily butter the Bundt pan and then coat it in loads of sliced raw almonds. It does take a bit of effort to make sure you heavily butter the pan, and I mean heavily! More butter than you would typically coast a pan with. And the butter acts as a glue to make all the almonds stick to the sides. The butter and the almonds cook up beautifully to toast up and become this crunchy outer crust that only needs some powdered sugar to make one fantastic cake. The toasting of the almonds permeates this cake wonderfully. And any excess butter gets absorbed into the crust make it even more buttery and addicting.

I took my favorite pound cake and added a bit of almond flour to the recipe here to give it a bit more almond flavor. The cake itself is moist, tender, and delicious. I took this cake into The Lion King, and people I never see were coming up to me to tell me how incredible it was. This is truly one of the best cakes I’ve ever made.

The plain Bundt cake works the best for this cake as the sides are smooth and has the space for the almonds. The spiral Bundt cake may work too, with its surface having many straight sides. Though volume may be a bit small. I’ve included the link for both on Pans on amazon.com, I may get a small percentage of the purchase if you buy through the link.  Everyone should have a Bundt pan.

Perfect for any occasion, dressed up or not, This Almond Crusted Pound cake is incredible!

If you dust it with some powdered sugar, it gets all fancy. But since it already had been dressed up with the toasted almonds, it is not necessary. Treat yourself and your family to this fantastic cake. I promise you it is worth it. Let me know if you make this cake in the comments below.

5 from 1 vote

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Almond Crusted Pound Cake

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

1 hr 10 mins

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

The almonds in the crust of this rich pound cake make an incredible cake. Inside is moist tender and irresistible.

Ingredients

• ¼ stick butter very soft at room temperature
• 1 ½- 2 cups raw sliced almonds
• ¼ cup almond flour
• 3 cups cake flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks of butter if using unsalted add a pinch of salt at room temp.
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 6 eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or a second tablespoon vanilla if you don’t have any paste.

Powdered sugar for finishing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Spread the softened butter evenly and thickly over the entire surface of a 12 cup Bundt pan, this works great with the original design or one that doesn’t have many intricate ridges. It may be messy, but you can use your hands to make sure the surface is completely covered thickly with butter.

3. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the entire buttered surface, try to cover as much as possible using the butter as glue. Press into the butter on the sides to completely cover the inside a much as possible. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the sliced almonds around the bottom of the coated pan to add even more almonds. Reserve about a ½ cup of the almonds to sprinkle on the filled cake before baking.

4. Combine flour, almond flour, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

5. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar for several minutes until the sugar has dissolved into the butter a bit, and the mixture has become very light. The sugar will not dissolve completely.

6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and making sure each egg has completely incorporated before you add the next egg Scraping down the side of the bowl with a spatula between each addition. The idea is to add as much air as possible.
7. Briefly beat in ½ of the flour mixture. Mixing until the flour has just been mixed in.
8. Scrape down the side of the bowl Add in the sour cream, vanilla, and vanilla bean paste if using. Beat until just combined.
9. Beat in the remaining flour, just until thoroughly combined. Try not to overwork the batter.
10. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, be careful and try and not dislodge the almonds.
11. Sprinkle the reserved ½ cup of sliced almonds over the batter to completely enrobe the batter in almonds.
12. Tap the pan against the counter to get rid of any big bubbles.
13. Place into the preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour and 10- 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Check after the 1-hour mark to see if the cake is made by inserting a toothpick or cake tester. Continue to bake until the tester comes out clean. Or the cake bounces back and is golden when lightly pressed.
14. Cool in pan 10 to 15 minutes and then invert and unmold onto a rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

Dust with powdered sugar if you want to be fancy, but this cake is delicious, just plain.