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
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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
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Also, the icing needs Margarine or it looks like a buttery granular mess!
I made the cake .. it’s great.
I beg of you … to rewrite the directions … they don’t flow well. In some ways you are not guiding but wanting us to read your mind, especially making the filling and icing.
Hi, this is a very old post, but I have a question about the filling and icing. It says to spread both the filling and the icing between each layer. Is this right? Or is the filling the only part that should be spread between each layer?
I made this cake for my 31st birthday and I had the same problem as some of these people. I followed this recipe to the letter as I have been meaning to make this cake for some time I reserved the entire day to make this cake and it was a disaster. I bake all the time so everything was room temp, I sifted the dry ingredients, beat the butter, eggs, not second over, I too was confused on how much cream was supposed to be left over after soaking the almonds I think I got about 3/4 maybe a cup of cream afterwards. I baked the cakes. They looked fine, I made the filling, that part I took my time on cause of the gelatin it doesn’t melt that easily and the time to set is totally inaccurate it was completely set. It looked like beige jello. The cakes were really hard on top and they were sunk in. I could really use a bit more in depth detail regarding this recipe, honestly I feel I wasted a lot lot of ingredients making this recipe,That aren’t cheap. Thanks again.
Your comment on how you were not pleased with how this cake turned out is very valuable information and might help a person who is trying to decide to make this cake. I love the sound of amaretto cake, then I read the recipe. Hmmmm not much amaretto in there for sure so I was already a bit suspicious and wondering how much flavour this cake will have.
There seems to be a lot of problems with dryness, so I will say I will not be trying this particular recipe.
I can see you took the time and proper care to make this cake. I know it was something well thought out and I really appreciate the feedback you left for helping others
This is my favorite special occasion cake! Takes some time to make, but well worth it!
Hi, I tag teamed with a friend to make this cake for my birthday as I’m unable to find a great almond cake where I live. Although a longer process than I had anticipated, with some music and a great friend and lots of laughs the experience was super fun! All turned out well except that while mixing the cake batter, I found that after reserving 1/4 cup for icing, that liquids may not have been enough. Do you know how much cream I should have leftover after pressing the almonds?
Also, after putting adding the gelatin mixture to the whipped cream and placing in fridge, it almost looked curdled and soupy. Obviously not what filling should look like. Do you have any idea what might have happened? How long do you normally beat the cream to get it to stiff peaks?
Thank you for patiently responding to posts.
PS I added fresh strawberries and kiwi between each layer and on top. It was heavenly!
Still confused about the amount of cream used in the cake batter. Recipe says ‘alternate remaining almond cream’. If the ingredients call for 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup is reserved for the icing, 1/2 cup is used to dissolve the gelatin, and 1-1/2 cups are beat at high speed–this is already a total of 2-1/4 cups of cream, so how much is actually used in the batter?
Just curious what do you do with the almonds after you’ve taken the cream out?
They get tossed out.
I halved the recipe and then made it into cupcakes by coring out the centers of the cupcakes then putting the filling in there. Bonus….you can eat the cores before serving the cupcakes!!!!
That sounds fabulous Stephanie! I have been wanting to make cupcakes out of this recipe!
Hello!! I am wanting to make this it looks amazing! I was wondering -it says used sliced almonds, could I chop whole almonds? I have a ton of them hate to buy more! Lol thanks!
Yes, I think chopped almonds would be fine. 🙂
How many servings do you think you can get out of this cake?
Made this cake for my son’s birthday – his favorite. It was excellent. I have to say it was quite a bit of work but well worth it. The cake was beautiful – very large and will feed a lot of people. This recipe is a keeper!
So glad you enjoyed it. It definitely does take some time and effort to make, but one bite and you’d gladly do it again right? Hope your son had a wonderful birthday! So sweet of you to make the cake for him. 🙂
im planning on making this as a wedding cake and I have a question about the filling. Does all the alcohol cook out in that short amount of time on the stove while making it? Thanks!
To be honest Katrina, I don’t know exactly how long it takes alcohol to cook off. But I’m thinking not much of it cooks off in this case.
This has got to be the most frustrating recipe I have ever tried to follow! The whole cream debacle was incredibly confusing. We haven’t tasted the cake yet…but I’m really hoping it was worth it. I would re-write your instructions to explain exactly how much cream to use at specific points. We debated it as we worked on this cake and still got it wrong. We are not amateur bakers. Thanks!
Sorry about the confusion Karen. I added some Notes to the recipe to try and explain it better. Let me know if there is still confusion and I will try and figure out what it is.
Hi – I made this recipe for my father for his birthday because we forgot to order his Amaretto cake. Thought I was a cooking queen…this cake proved me otherwise. Would help if the instructions weren’t so confusing (Didn’t realize i needed 4 cups of heavy cream total) and I would have liked to seen a unique items list with the measurements total and THEN a broken up list like posted above. Total Time would have helped as well. I’m waiting for the cake filing to chill and have not tasted the cake yet but all I’ve got to say is that it better be good…
hi just wanted to know will this cake filling will be good for a 2 tier cake thank you I got powder geltin is that ok and how much do I put ty
this has to be the best cake i ever made…..a little complicated , but certainly worth it~~~
i swore it was to complex to make except for a special occasion, but now i’m thinking that if i just do it a couple of time it will be easier! but, then i have to eat it and that could be a problem!
It is my very favorite and so worth the work! So glad you liked it Darlene! Happy New Year 🙂
This recipe sounds wonderful!! I think I’m going to try it for my daughter’s 30th Birthday! I just want to ask a question – it calls for 2 cups of cream to soak, but you added more? So a total of 2 1/4? AND does it make just enough to ice the cake, or will I have extra icing? The reason is, I’m going to pipe roses over the whole cake and thinking I may need 2 batches of icing?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, I would count on using 2 1/4 cups of cream and I would make extra icing to pipe the roses. Hope your daughter enjoys it and has a wonderful birthday!
hi! I’m making a tall naked almond cake for a birthday on thursday & I need to fill the layers (originally it was a covered cake and so I was going to use both your filling and frosting but since I only need 1 now was wondering which you would recommend (i.e. tastes bests, holds up between the layers)
thanks!
Heather
Hi Heather! It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve made this cake so my memory is a little faded, but I think the filling would hold up fine. The gelatin really helps stabilize it and it tastes wonderful.
I am making a tall “naked” almond cake with plum jam & then I was thinking of using your frosting/filling recipes but I only need one of them so I was wondering: If you had to choose only 1, which would it be & would the filling be stable enough to hold up to the layers or would it seep out the sides without the buttercream to protect it? thanks! (need to assemble for thursday)