This recipe was told to me by Giada, my friend from university. She had eaten this cake, which she found to be amazing, at the house of a friend of hers who has an Argentinian mother.
She gave me the precise doses of the sauce and told me the composition of the dessert verbally: a coffee cake topped with “dulce de leche” sauce and praline almonds.
I tried to find this recipe on various books, having never seen or eaten the original and not finding any similar recipe on the web.
A sumptuous dessert came out, which I have been making for several years now.
Strangely, on my trip to Argentina I never found this cake – the only Almendrado I tasted there was an ice cream.
- Preparation time: 60 minutes
- Ingredients for 8 servings
- Difficulty: Average difficult recipe
- Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 9 oz (250 grams) of all-purpose flour
- 6 oz (180 grams) of sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 oz (110 ml) of rice seed oil
- 5 oz (150 ml) of espresso coffee
- 1 sachet of baking powder
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of coffee liqueur
- For the coffee dip:
- 3 tablespoons of espresso coffee
- 3 tablespoons of water
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- For the sauce:
- 14 oz (400 grams) of cream
- 7 oz (200 grams) of “dulce de leche”
- For the praline almonds:
- 9 oz (250 grams) of almonds
- 4 oz (100 grams) of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of water
- Instructions
- The night before, prepare the praline almonds and the “dulce de leche” sauce.
- Preheat the oven to 230°F.
- Toast the almonds in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the almonds and mix until the syrup caramelizes and becomes a nice hazelnut color, without darkening too much.
- Pour the mixture onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Leave to dry and cool.
- In another saucepan, bring half of the cream to the boil, pour it into a bowl with the “dulce de leche,” and mix well. Add the remaining cream.
- Refrigerate overnight with covering wrap.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, whip the eggs with the sugar. When they are pretty fluffy, add the coffee, the sifted flour, and the coffee liqueur. Add the sifted baking and finally the seed oil.
- Pour the mixture into a greased and floured pan.
- Bake in the oven for about fifty minutes.
- Coarsely chop the almond praline in a blender.
- Prepare the syrup with the espresso coffee, hot water, and sugar.
- Whip the “dulce de leche” sauce until firm.
- Cut the cake in three layers.
- Place the first layer on a serving plate and brush it with syrup. Add 1/3 of the cream, spreading it well with a spatula over the entire surface of the cake. Sprinkle with praline almond powder. Repeat with the next layer. Close the cake with the last layer, wet it with syrup, and cover it with the rest of the cream and the praline almond powder.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- Do not darken the caramel too much because it becomes bitter.
- The timing of cooking in the oven is indicative because each oven cooks differently.
