HIGH ALTITUDE ALMOND COFFEE CAKE

My daughter and I fell in love with the most scrumptious almond filled croissant in Los Angeles last year and I've been on a mission to continue looking/enjoying them as I find them.   The version we had in Vermont, just wasn't the same...it had almond flavor, but also apple in it.    

In the meantime, I stumbled across an Almond Coffee Cake recipe that included an almond filling, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I knew it wasn't going to have the flaky pastry on top, but the almond filling and struesel caught my attention.  Plus, the recipe was already adjusted for high altitude baking!

INGREDIENTS:

COFFEE CAKE

3/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ tsp. almond extract

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. coarse kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

FILLING

4 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temp

4 oz. almond paste (not almond pastry filling)

STREUSEL

1/3 cup sugar

½ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp coarse kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

¼ cup almonds, finely chopped (or ¼ cup almond flour)

ICING

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup heavy whipping cream (I used whole milk)

½ tsp. almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 10 inch square baking pan with non-stick spray.  In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, eggs, sour cream, milk, vanilla, and almond extracts.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk briefly just to combine.  Set aside while you make the filling.

FILLING

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and almond paste for about 30 seconds until combined.  Spread half the coffee cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Spoon the filling over the batter, then use a small icing spatula to spread the filling out.  Spread the remainder of the batter over the filling.

STRUESEL

In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt and melted butter until moistened and crumbly.  Stir in the almonds, reserving 1-2 Tbsp. to sprinkle over the icing later if you'd like).  Sprinkle the struesel over the batter. 

Bake the cake on the center oven rack for about 45-50 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Set aside to cool while you make the icing.

ICING

In a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, cream and almond extract until smooth and has a thick drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over the hot cake and sprinkle with the remaining chopped almonds.  Let cool 20-30 minutes.  

NOTES:  I had an 8x8 and a 9x9 square pan.  I opted to use the 9x9 pan and made a parchment sling to ensure I could get it out of the pan nicely.  I did not need to adjust the baking time, and the cake plumped up nicely.  

I didn't make as much icing as it called for and I waited until it had cooled some before I drizzled it so it wouldn't melt into the cake.

I thoroughly enjoyed this coffee cake.  It has a great almond flavor.

Enjoy!

recipe c/o:  www.curlygirlkitchen.com