Chocolate Almond Cake

Impromptu dinner invitations. I’m almost always game. I like to have about an hour’s notice though. That is enough to make cake batter, put it in the oven, get ready, get the cake out of the oven, pack it and leave for the venue. I get the feeling that folks who have us over regularly will soon be tired of eating cakes that I take along. Until that happens, I probably will not experiment with other goodies.


Our dear friends were moving to another apartment. They were going from across the street to several streets and main roads away, in the same city. So this was an impromptu “last” get together at that address. I quickly baked this cake to take along. Everyone loved it. We brought some back home and quickly distributed it to friends and colleagues. This is a cake meant for almond lovers. If you don’t like the slight bitter taste that almonds add to your dessert, I would suggest you omit the ground almonds and replace the almond essence with vanilla.

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 cup Sugar

a Pinch Salt

1/2 cup Oil

2 eggs

1 cup Milk

1/4 cup Almonds, ground

1 tsp Almond Essence (or Vanilla, if you find Almond essence bitter)

Butter and flour for dusting

Almond slivers for decoration

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Prepare two 8 inch round cake tins by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour.

Divide the batter equally between the pans and sprinkle the almond slivers over the batter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. The cakes are done when a knife or skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a cake rack and cool completely.

Cut into wedges and enjoy while the cake is still warm. As always, I'm sure this would be divine with some vanilla ice cream on the side. But that's just a serving suggestion!