Passion Fruit, Sour Cream
I wanted to close the dinner with a sweet dish that included nuts. I paired this almond cake with a purée of passion fruit, a tropical fruit popular in Asia and in the Caribbean. The sour cream icing balances the fragrance and tartness of the purée.
– Jeng
Ingredients
½ pound raw almonds, blanched, peeled, and coarsely ground
2 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
4 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup sour cream
1 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Beat the whole eggs and yolks with confectioner’s sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add the butter and sour cream and beat until thoroughly combined.
Sift the cake flour and the baking powder together.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix gently. Add the remaining dry ingredients in two additions.
Add the coarsely ground almonds, vanilla, and almond extracts until completely combined.
Grease and lightly flour a 9×12-inch pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Gently drop the pan onto a flat surface from a few inches above to pop any air bubbles in the batter.
Bake on the middle rack in the oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Passion Fruit Cream
Ingredients
2 cups unsweetened passion fruit purée (can be found in Caribbean markets in the freezer section)
1 cup heavy cream
4 – 8 tablespoon white sugar, to taste
3 sheets gelatin (1 Tbl granulated gelatin or a 1.25 oz. envelope powdered gelatin)
Instructions
Warm the passion fruit juice, heavy cream, and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high.
Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water until softened, about five minutes.
Squeeze excess water out of the gelatin sheets and add to the warm passion fruit mixture. Stir until gelatin sheets are completely dissolved in the passion fruit mixture.
Chill the passion fruit cream for several hours before serving.
Sour Cream Icing
Ingredients
6 oz. butter, room temperature
6 oz. sour cream
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cream together butter and sour cream. Beat in the vanilla extract.
Add confectioner’s sugar until the icing is stiff enough to pipe onto the cake.
To plate
Cut the almond cake into rounds. The scraps make a great snack!
Pour a pool of the passion fruit cream on to the plate and center a round of cake on top.
Pipe rosettes of the sour cream icing onto the cake and serve.