Golden Lemon Almond Cake

One of my all-time favorite cakes. This cake is somewhat dense with added texture from ground almonds. Balancing the richness of butter, almonds and sour cream is plenty of lemon zest and juice.

The cake is not difficult but it's a little more time-consuming than a classic American-style butter cake, because of the need to toast and grind almonds, and because of the zesting and juicing of lemons. But very worth it, I've made it over and over. Don't be tempted to make substitutions with this cake, the balance of flavors and textures is absolutely perfect as written. It's noticeably better on the day after it is made, and keeps well for several days.

The photo shows this cake as a torte topped with glazed fresh blueberries (from the Cake Bible) and trimmed with white chocolate-lemon buttercream. The buttercream is from the Wedding Cake chapter of Rose's Heavenly Cakes.