A luscious, moist almond cake with crunchy sliced almond topping and studded with fresh strawberries - it's as impressive as it is delicious. This is the simple, one-layer Almond Cake Recipe you've been looking for - pin it to your Pinterest cake board for your next brunch, picnic or special occasion dinner party.
If you love almonds and strawberries as much as me and Strawberry Shortcake, this is a great recipe for your collection.
What you'll need to make this simple cake:
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- salt
- baking soda
- sour cream
- canola or vegetable oil
- butter, room temperature
- eggs
- almond extract
- pure vanilla extract
- fresh strawberries
- sliced raw almonds
Full ingredient measurements included in the printable recipe card below.
Step by step instructions:
1. Prep strawberries
To begin, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a spring form pan with non-stick spray, line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper, and re-spray. Prepare the fresh berries. Wash and dry the strawberries. Hull and slice in half.
2. Make batter
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
Next step is to combine the oil, butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Cream butter mixture together with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy - about 2-3 minutes.
Add sour cream and both eggs, beating just long enough to combine all of the wet ingredients into a batter.
Add all of the dry ingredients into the batter. Beat on medium with your electric mixer just until combined, scraping down sides of bowl.
3. Build cake
Pour cake batter into prepared pan and level with an offset spatula.
Arrange strawberries, cut side down, in a circular pattern around the top of the cake batter. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries. Top with sliced almonds.
4. Bake, serve and enjoy
Bake cake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Watch the cake after 30 minutes and cover loosely with aluminum foil once the almond topping has turned golden brown.
Let the cake cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing from your spring form pan. Serve warm, cold or room temperature.
In the mood for another fresh fruit snack? Try Honey Lime Fruit Salad next!
FAQs
Butter is THE BEST, except when itโs not. Here, itโs not. Butter gives the cake beautiful, rich flavor, but the oil gives this cake a fluffy, moist crumb that I promise you'll love. An all butter cake would create more weight in the cake (think momโs pound cake - delicious, just not what we need here).ย
Raspberries or blueberries would be two fresh fruit options that would add great flavor to this cake. If using blueberries, I recommend adding the a teaspoon of lemon zest to the batter. That hint of lemon will balance the blueberries and almond flavors.
A round cake pan or even a pretty pie plate would be good substitutes. Just be sure whatever pan you choose is properly prepared with nonstick spray and parchment paper.
Fresh whipped cream (just 1 cup cold heavy cream and tablespoon of sugar or stevia) and a cup of coffee would be my preference. Good quality vanilla ice cream or a warm crรจme anglaise would also take this delicious cake over the top.
Almond extract is very intense, and after testing this cake multiple times, this was just the right amount of almond. Adding a little vanilla extract (as in the recipe card, below) creates a balanced depth to the flavor profile.
You can! Wrap it well in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze up to 2 months. This is one of my favorite cake recipes of all time, and my tiny European freezer often hosts one of them just in case we have surprise guests. Or in case I need some cake...
Are you making brunch this weekend? Try my elegant Smoked Salmon Quiche Recipe!
Print
Best Ever Almond Cake with Fresh Strawberries
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Description
This gorgeous dessert brings sweet strawberry flavor and crunchy almond topping to an elegant, tender almond cake. The perfect summertime cake for brunches, tea times, picnics and dinner parties.ย
Ingredients
1 ยพ cups all purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
ยฝ teaspoon salt
ยพ teaspoon baking soda
โ cup sour cream
โ cup canola or vegetable oil
โ cup butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
ยฝ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12-15 fresh strawberries, halved and hulled
ยฝ cup sliced raw almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray spring form pan with non-stick spray, line bottom with a circle of parchment paper and re-spray.
- Wash and dry strawberries. Hull and slice in half. Put aside.
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Combine oil, butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract in another bowl. Cream together with electric mixer on medium until fluffy - about 2-3 minutes.
- Add sour cream and both eggs, beating just long enough to combine.
- Add all of dry mix into batter. Beat on medium just until combined, scraping down sides of bowl.
- Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, in a circular pattern around the top of the cake batter. Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoons sugar over berries. Top with sliced almonds.
- Bake cake for 45-50 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool on rack for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm, cold or room temperature.
Notes
Raspberries or blueberries would be two fresh fruit options that would add great flavor to this cake.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 50
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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