Almond Cake

Today we're making a semolina almond cake with lemon and tarragon cremeux. It's moist, fragrant, lemony, rich with almonds, and finished with the softest tarragon cream on top. So, let's make this fresh little cake. First, let's make the tarragon cremeux, because it needs time to chill and set. Combine 3g gelatin with 15g cold water and set it aside to bloom. In a separate bowl, combine 3 egg yolks with 30g sugar and mix right away until combined. In a saucepan, add 200g heavy cream and 1 sprig of fresh tarragon, or dried tarragon if that's what you have. Place over medium heat and stir from time to time. As soon as the cream starts to simmer, remove it from the heat. Slowly pour it into the yolks while whisking constantly. Then pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and return it to the heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until it reaches 80 degrees Celsius. Remove from the heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Mix again until fully dissolved. Strain the cremeux through a sieve to remove the tarragon and any little bits of egg. Cover with plastic wrap directly touching the surface. Let it cool, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or ideally overnight. And if your first thought was, oh no, overnight? Why so long? Trust us, the final result is so worth it. Once chilled, whip the cremeux with a mixer until it becomes thick, smooth, and fluffy. That's it. It holds its shape beautifully and is ready to use. Now let's move on to the batter for our fragrant cake. In a large bowl, combine 120 grams room temperature butter, zest of one lemon, 120 grams sugar, and one quarter teaspoon salt. Start beating until the mixture becomes lighter in color. Add one egg, along with a little bit of the semolina. We'll need 120 grams semolina total. And beat again. The semolina helps keep the eggs and butter from curdling. Repeat the same thing with the second egg. And if the mixture curdles a little anyway, don't panic. Nothing terrible happened. It may affect the texture just slightly, but it's really not a big deal. Now add one quarter teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract. In a blender, combine 20 grams flour with 50 grams roasted almonds. Blend until the almonds turn into a fine flour. Adding the flour to the nuts is our little trick. It helps prevent the almonds from releasing too much oil while blending. Add the ground almond mixture to the bowl. Then add one half teaspoon baking powder and the remaining semolina. Mix on low speed just until everything comes together. Prepare your pan. Ours is 16 centimeters in diameter. Pour in the batter and spread it out evenly. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius with fan for about 45 minutes. While the cake is baking, let's make the soaking syrup. In a saucepan, combine 50 grams lemon juice, 50 grams water, and 50 grams sugar. Bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for two to three minutes, then remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. The cake is ready. Let it sit for about five minutes, then remove the pan. Transfer the cake to a serving plate and poke holes all over the top with a skewer so the syrup can soak in better. Pour all of the syrup over the cake, making sure to cover the whole surface and not miss any spots. Let the cake sit and absorb everything. Then spread the cremeux on top and smooth it out with a spatula in a loose, messy way. Decorate it however you like, or leave us a comment if you want the recipe for these lemon candied slices in syrup, and we'll happily share it. And now, time for a slice. That cut is just perfect. The crumb is beautiful, soft, and not dry or crumbly at all. Honestly, with these flavors, it kind of makes you want to run off into blooming Italian lemon groves and romanticize your life a little. See you in the next recipe, and see you at the table.