This Almond Cake with Amaretto Filling is an almond lover’s dream. It’s covered in an incredible almond buttercream. This cake takes a little time to prepare but it is worthy of a special occasion. It makes a fabulous wedding cake.
Almond Cake with Amaretto Filling
p>
Hello and welcome to SpicySouthernKitchen.com. My name is Christin and I love food. Spicy foods and southern foods are my favorites. I love to try new things in the kitchen and it’s really not an exaggeration to say that I hardly ever cook the same thing twice.
Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share an extra-indulgent recipe- Almond Cake with Amaretto Filling. This has to be one of my favorite cakes ever. It has a wonderful almond flavor in the filling, the frosting, and the cake itself. It’s the almond lover’s trifecta. This cake is perfect for any special occasion whether it be Valentine’s Day, Christmas, a birthday, or even a wedding. My husband and I had an almond-flavored cake for our wedding. I still think about it almost 17 years later.
This is a recipe that was published in Taste of the South Magazine which is one of my favorite magazine’s for recipes. But sometimes their recipes can be hit or miss and they don’t always have the best directions. I was pleased to find that this recipe turned out exceptionally well, which is good because I put a large amount of time and energy into it.
I was a little uncertain about making the almond cream beacause after soaking the almonds in the 2 cups of heavy cream, I ended up with a lot less then 2 cups of almond cream, even after pressing the heck out of the almonds in the strainer. But the recipe doesn’t say how much you should end up with. I was worried I had too little and that I’d end up with a dry cake. I fugured I’d rather ere on the side of having too much liquid ingredients rather than too little, so I added in about another 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Because after all, how can you have too much heavy cream?
I was also a little afraid that my filling would not turn out because my gelatin didn’t seem to disslove very well. But it has heavenly. I would have been perfectly happy to forget the cake layers and just sit down on the couch with a spoon and the bowl of amarreto filling.
Almond Cake with Amaretto Filling
Almond Cake with Amaretto Filling has wonderful almond flavor in the filling, the frosting, and the cake itself. Wonderful for special occasions.
SERVINGS: 22 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups sliced almonds toasted
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Amaretto Filling
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream divided
- 1/2 cup amaretto liqueur
- 1 (.25ounce) package unflavored gelatin
- 1/4 cup sugar
Almond Buttercream Icing
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup reserved almond cream
- 1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with nonstick baking spray with flour. (Or butter and flour each pan.)
- In a large saucepan, bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Add almonds to hot cream and remove from heat. Let stand 30 minutes. Strain almond mixture and reserve cream. (Really press down on almonds with a rubber spatula or back of a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.) Place 1/4 cup of the almond cream in a small bowl to reserve for icing.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat well. One at a time, add the eggs, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl periodically. Add extracts and beat to incorporate.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with remaining almond cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until combined and divide batter evenly among the 3 pans.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 26 minutes. Let cool in pans 5 minutes and remove cakes from pans and let cool entirely on a wire rack.
- Make Amaretto Filling. In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup cream and amaretto liqueur. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add gelatin to cream mixture, stirring until dissolved. Refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes. Mixture should be firm, but not set.
- In a large bowl, beat remaining 1 1/2 cups cream at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add sugar and chilled gelatin mixture and beat well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed and then spread between cake layers.
- Make Buttercream Icing. In a large bowl, beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy.
- Gradually add in confectioners’ sugar. Add almond cream and beat well. Add amaretto and extract.
- Spread Amaretto Filling between layers and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Spread icing on top and sides of cake. Store cake in refrigerator.
Notes
Update: There has been some confusion about the amount of cream needed in this recipe. You will need a total of 4 cups, plus possibly a little extra. Read the above post to see why I used a little extra.
2 cups are used to make the almond cream. The almond cream is then divided and 1/4 cup is reserved for the Buttercream Icing and the rest is added to the cake batter.
A separate 2 cups of cream is used to make the Amaretto filling.
2 cups are used to make the almond cream. The almond cream is then divided and 1/4 cup is reserved for the Buttercream Icing and the rest is added to the cake batter.
A separate 2 cups of cream is used to make the Amaretto filling.
Nutrition
Calories: 487kcal
Want to Save This Recipe?
More Almond Desserts
More Cake Recipes
This cake was amazing. Made for my mothers birthday a few weeks ago and it melted in the mouth. Just about to start making another one for tonight’s diner with some neighbours..many thanks for sharing this recipe
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know. I can’t think of a better flavor for birthday cake than almond. Happy belated birthday to your mother.
Hello! I realize this is older but I’m hoping you can help me trouble shoot the filling…. I’m making this as a very simple wedding cake for my sister. The cake itself turned out great! The filling however… I’ve made it three times and it has failed each time… The first time was my fault. I totally forgot about the gelatin mixture and it was very set. The second time I beat the whipping cream a little too much and it was too thick before I combined the gelatin.
The third time I have no idea. The whipping cream looked good, the gelatin was not quite set… I mixed it together and it looked awesome. But after refrigerating it for an hour and then beating it again, it was extremely clumpy and goopy… It almost seemed like it was melting. I will say that I’m trying to make it alcohol free and flowed the suggestions below for adding an extra 1/4 cup of cream and I did 1 tsp amaretto emulsion and 1 tsp vanilla instead of amaretto. I’m not sure what to do?
Hi there- I realize this is an older post, but this recipe sounds delicious and I’d like to use it to make a simple wedding cake. Is the icing a crusting buttercream icing? Or is it soft? The bride wants rose swirls all around the outside of the cake and I’m worried that a soft icing wont hold its shape. Thanks!
Oh gosh, you’ve really got me on that! It’s been a year and a half since I’ve made it so I’m trying to remember what the consistency was. I would say that it is soft. I stored it in the refrigerator so it was pretty firm, but if it was left out at room temperature for a long time it would probably soften up quite a bit.
Alrighty! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! I’ll just substitute my regular frosting and use almond extract and amaretto coffee creamer instead of the usual vanilla and milk. So excited about this cake! Thanks so much for the recipe! 🙂
Hope you enjoy it Meagan!
I am wanting to make this cake for someone, but it can’t have alcohol in it. Is it possible to substitute ammaretto extract for the liqueur? Any idea how much to use, our how to account for the rest of the liquid since the extract would be significantly less than the liquer? Thanks in advance!
Do you mean almond extract? You could definitely leave the amaretto out of the frosting and add a touch more almond extract. For the filling, I would use 1/2-1 teaspoon of almond extract and extra cream or milk to make up for the liquid. Most almond extracts do have alcohol in them though and some are 80% alcohol which is a higher concentration than in the amaretto. Of course you are using much less. And I think a few companies do make alcohol-free extracts.
Hope you enjoy the cake!
I need to triple this recipe. Does that mean I need to triple my almonds or can the same amount be used in triple the cream?
I think I would triple the almonds just to be sure.
When I drained the soaked almonds I was only able to extract 1 cup of heavy cream. did i do something wrong? My cake came out very dry, I’m sure it’s because i didn’t have enough cream. any recommendations?
Sorry your cake came out dry 🙁 Read through the post before the recipe and you’ll see I was worried about not having extracted enough liquid so I added some extra heavy cream. That should work.
Hi this maybe a dumb question, but what is almond cream?
Hi, I don’t know of this is a dumb question, but what is reserved almond cream?
It’s the cream that you soak the almonds in.
Could you add maybe a cup of sour cream instead of the extra heavy cream after you soak the almonds?
Hmmm… I can’t promise it would work, but I would tend to think sour cream would be a pretty good substitute for the heavy cream. Let me know if you try it.
just curious if you could use almond milk instead of the heavy cream/almonds??
Hmmm. Not really sure. Almond milk is much thinner than heavy cream, so I’m sure it would change the texture of the cake and since it lacks the fat of heavy cream, I would think the taste would be different too. Whether or not it would still be good, I don’t know.
Making it right now and house smells delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Yay! Hope you enjoy and wish I could come over 🙂
Just made this cake for Easter tomorrow. The layers are cooling and the filling is in the refrigerator. I will make the frosting in about an hour, then assemble. Looks great so far! And oh boy, are you right, the amaretto filling is heavenly….
Yes, the filling is heavenly! Happy Easter!
I just made this as cupcakes this time, and used my cupcake filling tip to insert the amaretto cream filling into the cupcakes. I then frosted with the amaretto buttercream. Delish!
Oh my! That sounds wonderful! May have to try that. Sounds easier than making a cake. Really think that is one of my all-time favorite recipes!
How far in advance do you think I could make the frosting and filling? I was think of making them Thursday or Friday and then make the cake on Saturday for a Sunday party.
The filling should be fine to make ahead. I always have frosted cakes right when I make the frosting so not sure about that part. You would probably need to let the frosting come to room temperature and maybe beat it with the mixer again so that it wouldn’t be too firm to spread.
This sounds amazing! I will be making for a retirement party this week!
Hop it turns out well for you Lesley!
This looks amazing! I’d love to make this cake but have a recovering alcoholic in the family. Any recommendations for substituting the amaretto? I would think almond extract would work, but since it wouldn’t be the same amount of liquid, would that be an issue? Thanks!
Hi Liz! I think it would probably work subbing almond extract. General guidelines are to sub 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract for 2 tablespoons of amaretto. Since there is 1/2 cup amaretto in the filling, that would equal 8 tablespoons if I am doing my math right. I don’t think I’d use more than 1 teaspoon of extract since it is so strong in flavor. And I would probably add some extra heavy cream, maybe 1/4 of a cup. Hope it works for you!
What do you do with almonds that you have soaked?
The almonds just get tossed out. You could probably use them for something, but they don’t taste that great once they’ve been soaked. Much of their flavor is gone.
this sounds incredibly delishious! i may have to make it! 😀
It is so,so good Debbie. Let me know if you try it
OMG! lol i made this today! incredibly rich and very good! do you know if this can be froze? there is no way my husband and i could eat this in one week – i would love to be able to freeze some of it!
So glad you liked it Debbie! I haven’t tried freezing it, but I would think that it would freeze well. If you freeze some, let me know how it turns out.
What would you suggest if I wanted to make this cake ahead of time? I am worried about the filling getting too runny if I make it the night before.
The gelatin should keep the filling from getting runny. I made mine a day ahead of time and it was fine. Make sure to keep it in the refrigerator though.
Wow such a gorgeous cake, it sounds so delicious too!
Thanks so much Rosie, it is one of my favs!
You are a person after my own heart!!! Amaretto and cream are two of my favourite things in Life!! You can probably tell how excited I am by all the exclamation marks but I am not ashamed…you deserve them!! Love this 😀
I love almond flavored anything! So surprised Amaretto ckaes aren’t more popular. As much as I love Chocolate cakes, they have nothing on amaretto!
Agreed!! Amaretto are so underrated! But well…less men more share, as the saying goes right? So the less who like ’em and buy ’em, the more left for us! Muahahaha! 😀
Exactly! 🙂