I stumbled across the idea for this recipe in Mimi Thorissons’s cookbook A Kitchen in France. It sounded nice & delicious & I thought it would be fine w/ my espressos (you know that I’m addicted to espresso!).
So for my next shopping I made a mental note to buy an organic lemon as well as dry yeast … & some almond flakes. The rest would be waiting in my fridge resp. pantry.
Originally the cake should be kneaded & rolled out, then folded in like a galette w/ a filling on top of sugar & butter. The mess would end up on a baking tray & endure an oven session. It reminded me of classic German Butterkuchen which is also baked on a baking tray.
Well, I rather seldom bake cakes filling a whole huge baking tray. It’s too much for my better half & me even if there are guests. This cake seems more appropriate because it was meant to be a round affair of about 25 cm ∅.
So let’s start … I thought.
Unfortunately my mix of flour & sugar & eggs & water (for the yeast) turned out to be very smooth & lazy – far too soft & runny for any attempts to kneading & rolling out. So what to do?
It wasn’t possible to use a baking tray … so I’d need a baking tin – I immediately thought of my tart form. So I filled the runny mess into my tart form … but let’s start now!
What do we need?
For the cake:
- flour
- butter
- eggs
- sugar
- an organic lemon (only the zest!)
… & dry yeast dissolved in lukewarm water.
Later on for the filling resp. the top:
- sugar
- butter
- almond flakes.
At 1st we grate the lemon zest.
For the cake we mix eggs, butter, sugar & lemon zest w/ a handheld electric mixer. The dry yeast is dissolved in lukewarm water. We add flour & yeast mess – incorporating it w/ a spoon. Then we cover the mess w/ a dishcloth & let it rest for about 90-120 min. I start my oven for 50-60° C for some minutes … Then it’s warm enough for the yeast mess.
In the meantime you may do whatever – go shopping, mow the lawn, do a manicure, read the latest news from the stock market … watch Netflix …
After the chilling session the cake should have doubled its volume. Alas! It’s still too runny for any kneading or rolling out w/ a rolling pin.
So start preheating the oven to 200° C fan.
Then butter your tart form & pour the cake mess into the tart form. It’ll will spread out evenly by itself.
Cut the cold butter in cubes resp. lumps & distribute over the cake mess. Add the sugar.
Finally add the almond flakes.
The tart form marches into the preheated oven. It’ll take 15-20 min. Watch out … The cake should not get burnt!
It smells delicious & it’s soft & crumbly … perfect!
Enjoy!
- 160 g all-purpose flour
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 80 ml lukewarm water
- 120 g butter (room temperature)
- 2 small eggs (room temperature)
- 25 g sugar
- zest of an organic lemon
- 60 g butter
- 75 g sugar
- 20 g almond flakes
- handheld electric mixer
- tart form (26 cm)
- Grate the zest of an organic lemon.
- Dissolve the dry yeast in the lukewarm water.
- Whisk together the butter, the sugar, the eggs, the lemon zest & a pinch of salt w/ your handheld electric mixer until smooth.
- Fold in the flour & the yeast mix. You'll get a rather soft & runny mess.
- Let the mess rise in a warm place covered w/ a dishcloth for about 90-120 min. The mess will double its volume.
- Preheat the oven to 200° C w/ fan.
- Dump the mess in a buttered tart form.
- Add some bits of butter all over the mess. Sprinkle w/ the sugar & the almond flakes.
- Let it bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 min.
- Serve in the tart form.
