Oh boy do I have a recipe for the almond lover in your life.  I'm telling you what, this super easy cake is the bomb.  Overflowing with strong almond flavor.  I brought it to a cookout recently and one of my neighbors kept calling it a marzipan cake and he absolutely insisted I give his wife the recipe, so there you go.  Oh, and my extended family reqeusts it at every holiday gathering.  I don't dare show up without it.

The recipe comes from Trisha Yearwood - she calls it shortbread which stumped me because it isn't a shortbread at all, it's really a classic European butter cake.  I'm so glad she shared the recipe though - it's rich, it's moist, it's totally decadent.  So, whether you call it a skillet cake, a butter cake, a marzipan cake, or Trisha Yearwood's shortbread, you simply have to make it.

You're welcome.

European Almond Butter Cake 

makes one 10-inch cast iron skillet cake 

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar

• 12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, melted

• 2 large eggs (100-110g)

• 1 teaspoon (6g) pure almond extract

• 1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon (5g) fine salt

• 1/2 cup (50g) sliced almonds

• 2 tablespoons (30g) turbinado sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 10-inch cast iron skillet with nonstick foil (or regular foil that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray).

2. In a large bowl, mix together granulated sugar and melted butter; then stir in eggs and almond extract.

3. Add the salt and flour; mix well.

4. Pour into nonstick foil lined skillet.

5. Sprinkle almonds and Turbinado sugar evenly over the surface of the cake.

6. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Cool completely in skillet (several hours).

8. Remove from pan, peel away foil, cut into thin slices with a serrated knife.

adapted from Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen by Trisha Yearwood