This recipe recently appeared on a website that I read regularly, David Lebovitz’ site.

I’m a sucker for a great review and Lebovitz prefaces this recipe by writing that this cake is his “desert island” recipe, the one cake he would choose were he stranded. Who could resist trying a recipe with that kind of billing? Not me.

While Lebovitz lives (and cooks) in Paris now, his cooking roots extend back to the kitchen of the fabled Chez Panisse. This almond cake is his adapttion of a recipe by Lindsey Shere who was the executive pastry chef at the restaurant.

Interestingly, the batter for this cake is made entirely in a food processor. I’ve never done that before but it worked very well.

I made it this morning. I loved it, and I decided to pass my adaptation of the recipe along.

I would not hesitate to serve this cake at an elegant party. Or, of course, on a proper checkered tablecloth while stranded on a desert island.

Recipe: Almond Cake

1 1/3 C. sugar
8 ounces almond paste
3/4 C. , plus 1/4 C. flour (I used pastry flour)
1/ 1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature (cubed)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
6 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degree F.

Prepare a 20 inch round cake pan or springform pan by buttering the pan and then putting a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. (I used a springform pan with great success.)

Mix the sugar, almond paste and 1/4 C. of flour in the bowl of your food processor until the almond paste is totally incorporated and the overall mixture looks like sand.

Put the rest of the flour (3/4 C.) into a bowl and whisk in baking powder and salt. Set aside.

To the food processor bowl sugar/almond paste  mixture, add the cubes of room-temperature butter along with the vanilla and the almond extract. Process until the mixture is smooth. This took a bit of time for me in my Cuisinart. First, the mixture appeared to be trying to form a ball and then, when I kept the Cuisinart’s motor running, the mixture finally softened and formed a batter.

Add eggs one at a time to the processor bowl and process for a few seconds after each egg addition to fully incorporate the egg into the batter. The batter will look pretty thin after adding all the eggs.

Next, add  half of the flour mixture to the batter and mix to incorporate. Add the rest of the flour and mix. Only mix the flour into the batter until it is fully incorporated. Resist the temptation to  overmix the batter at this point.

Put the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-65 minutes until the cake is set and the top of the cake is a pretty brown color. At 45 minutes, test the cake by pressing the top to see if the cake is set. Mine wasn’t ready at this point. I used a wooden skewer to test the cake at 60 minutes. You want the skewer to come out clean, not covered in uncooked batter. At 60 minutes, I decided to give my cake about 5 minutes more. My cake took 65 minutes. The lesson here is to watch your cake carefully at the end of its cooking.

Remove the cake from the oven. Run a serrated knife around the edge of the cake pan to loosen the cake from the pan. Let cake sit on your counter until it is totally cool. When the cake is cool, invert it on a plate, remove the parchment paper, and then invert it again on a plate so that the pretty brown top is facing up. Dust the cake with powdered sugar and serve. Fresh berries make a good garnish.

Cook’s Notes: The almond flavor in this moist cake is wonderful. The cake has a very delicate texture. I enjoyed my first piece with a hot cup of Darjeeling tea. The hot tea made the flavor of the cake even more intense.

Enjoy.

Here is the link to Lebovitz’ site and to this spectacular recipe:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/almond-cake-recipe/

My friend Sarah is the queen of lemon bars.

In her home, lemon bars are a food group unto themselves. Sarah has given her blessing to this variation on the traditional lemon bar recipe. Gene, lucky husband of the lemon-bar queen and lemon-bar connoisseur in his own right, says these are great, too.  So there it is. Two thumbs up.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi, a wonderful baking book that includes many of the recipes that Greenspan is famous for baking in her Paris kitchen. The blurb on her cookbook cover says that she lives in Westbrook, Connecticut, New York City and Paris.  

Recipe: Lemon and Apple Tart

2-3 Lemons

2/3 Cup Sugar

2 Large eggs (at room temperature)

3 Medium Apples

1/2 Stick unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

Directions:

Prepare a partially-baked pie crust (I used the recipe for a tart crust that appears below. That crust includes some grated lemon rind in the crust, giving this lemon tart an extra blast of lemon flavor.  I precooked the crust for 15 minutes.)

Juice the lemons being sure that you have at least 1/4 cup of fresh juice. Set aside.

Using a peeler, peel the lemon rinds from the lemons and then grate the rinds. (I have a small coffee mill that I use for grating spices and rinds.)

Using your hands, rub the lemon rinds and sugar together in a large bowl.

Break the eggs into the bowl with the lemon rinds and sugar and, using a whisk, beat the mixture. Then, add lemon juice gradually while whisking.

Peel apples and grate them. (I used my food processor. Mix the grated apples into the batter and then whisk in the melted and cooled butter. Pour the batter into your partially-baked pie crust.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 40-45 minutes or until the center of the tart is firm in the middle and the edges of the tart crust turn a nice shade of brown.

Recipe: Tart Crust

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1 1/8 Stick cold unsalted butter  (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)

1/4 C. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2-1 t. finely grated fresh lemon zest

2 Large egg yolks

Directions: Tart Crust

Mix flour, butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest in your food processor. Mix until flour mixture resembles coarse meal with some small blueberry-sized lumps. Add egg yolks one at a time and process until dough mixture begins to clump and forms a ball.

Divide your dough into two parts. Smear each portion once with the heel of your hand to help distribute the fat in the dough. Combine the two pieces of dough into one ball.

There is no need to roll this dough. Using your fingertips, press the dough into a tart pan. Put the pan into your refrigerator for about 30 minutes to chill the dough.

To pre-cook the tart crust, put pan into a 400 degree F. oven for 20 minutes. Remove and fill with apple-lemon batter. Use a spatula to spread the apple-lemon mixture evenly in the crust. Return tart to oven and bake lemon-apple tart for 40-45 minutes until tart is firm in the middle and the edges of the tart crust are a nice shade of brown. If you crust is turning too brown, remove from the oven and drape aluminum foil over the edges of the crust. Return to oven and continue baking.

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I’ve found some beautiful beets at the farmers’ market lately.

Not everyone is on the beet bandwagon, however. From what I read, President Obama and Michelle Obama aren’t beet fans. They requested that beets not be included among the vegetables grown in their beautiful organic garden.

Historically, though, beets have quite a following. Thomas Jefferson had them planted at Monticello. Women in the 19th Century used beet juice as a cosmetic to stain their lips and cheeks.  Elizabethans enjoyed them in stews and tarts. The Romans and Greeks went so far as to develop strategies to grow them year round, believing that beets enhance one’s health and, as a bonus, have an aphrodisiac effect. In mythology, that hottie Aphrodite ate beets to enhance her appeal.

I make a pretty good beet and cabbage borscht and enjoy pickled beets, but I’ve decided to try some new beet recipes.  This recipe from the Williams-Sonoma’s  Vegetable Recipe of the Day Cookbook caught my eye.

What’s not to like, after all, about beets, vinaigrette and goat cheese?

And, who knows, maybe Aphrodite was right.

Here is the recipe.

Recipe: Roasted Beets with Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette

4 beets
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil

Grated zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 C. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 C. white wine vinegar
1 1/2 t. fresh thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 T. fresh mint, julienned
1/2 t. coarsely chopped fresh tarragon
1 t. fresh chervil leaves

Directions:

Wash beets. Trim off greens. Put beets on a large piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle beets with 1 T. olive oil. Gather up edges of foil around beets to seal in a foil package and place package on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F. for one hour or until beets are tender when pierced with a knife. Remove packet from oven, unwrap and cool.

Prepare vinaigrette. Grate lemon rind. Juice 1/2 lemon. Put zest and juice into a small bowl and whisk with olive oil, white wine vinegar, and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Peel cooled beets and slice into 1/8 inch slices. Arrange beet slices on a platter. Sprinkle goat cheese over the beets. Drizzle with lemon-thyme vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle mint, tarragon and chervil over salad and serve at room temperature.

Cook’s Note: This recipe makes more vinaigrette than you will need to dress your beet salad. I suggest that you marinate any beet slices that you don’t use in your salad in the extra vinaigrette.

The original recipe suggested using a variety of colored beets–red, golden, etc.

I garnished my salad with chopped walnuts. I like the texture that walnuts add to a salad.

Don’t forget to eat the beet greens. They are wonderful.