This elegant high altitude flourless almond cake makes a beautiful and delicious holiday dessert. The batter is simple, but rich and flavorful, made of cream cheese, butter, eggs, sweet almond paste and almond flour. With no leavening other than eggs, it puffs up while it bakes, somewhat like a souffle. And then as it cools, it settles down into a rich flat torte that’s soft, light and creamy, with a texture that’s somewhere between a cake and a custard. It looks gorgeous topped with almond icing and chopped almonds. This gluten-free dessert is sure to please everyone!
Looking for more recipes like this one? Don’t miss this cardamom almond star bread, almond biscotti, and almond cream cheese scones.
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What is a Flourless Cake?
A flourless almond cake is a one-layer cake that’s very soft and creamy, almost like a baked custard instead of a cake. Instead of cake flour, the recipe uses almond flour, which is made of finely ground blanched almonds. And without any grains in the cake, it’s naturally gluten-free.
My family is from Denmark, and I grew up eating a Danish pastry called almond kringle. I’m not sure if it was that butter-layered, almond-scented dough or my own Danish heritage, but to this day, I have a weakness for almond pastry. While the making of Danish kringle is incredibly labor intensive, with rolling thin layers of butter between yeast dough, this flourless almond cake is very simple to make.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
So Much Almond Flavor. To get as much almond flavor into this cake as possible, I also mixed almond paste into the batter. I absolutely love using almond paste in almond desserts. It’s sweet, rich, nutty, and makes everything taste like Christmas. And lastly, a sweet almond icing poured over the cake looks simply beautiful topped with chopped toasted almonds. The warm, nutty aroma invites you to dig right in.
Easy to Make. You’ll love how simple this recipe is, with standard pantry ingredients.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Cream Cheese. The cream cheese adds richness and moisture to this cake.
- Unsalted Butter. Richness and flavor.
- Almond Paste. Almond paste is made of ground almonds and sugar, so it contributes sweetness as well as plenty of almond flavor. Be sure to use almond paste, not almond pastry filling.
- Granulated Sugar. Most of the sweetness in this flourless almond cake comes from the almond paste, so only a little extra sugar is needed to sweeten the cake.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Vanilla is a nice complement to almond. Use a good-quality vanilla extract for the best flavor. Vanilla bean paste would also be great in this flourless almond cake.
- Eggs. Eggs add structure to this cake, as well as leaven it, making it puff up while it bakes.
- Almond Flour. The almond flour thickens the batter and adds structure. And since there’s no wheat in almond flour, the cake is gluten free.
- Springform Pan. While not an ingredient, a springform pan is an essential tool for a flourless almond cake. A springform pan is a type of bakeware that features sides that can be removed from the base. It’s commonly used for baking cheesecakes, tortes and other delicate desserts that can’t be easily turned out of a standard cake pan.
Instructions
The Cake.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan with non-stick spray. The photographed cake in today’s post was baked in an 8-inch pan, so it will be a bit taller than a cake baked in a 9-inch pan.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer (handheld or stand) to beat the cream cheese, butter, almond paste, sugar, salt and vanilla for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Scrape the bowl down and beat again for 10 seconds, then fold in the almond flour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 40-45 minutes. The cake should be puffed and set, and just starting to turn a pale golden brown. Set the cake on a cooling rack and cool for 2 hours, then remove the sides of the pan, and set the cake on a serving plate.
TIP: Note that the cake gets its leavening from eggs, which puff up somewhat like a souffle while baking. As the cake cools, it will settle back down and won’t look nearly as puffed as it does when you first take it out of the oven.
The Icing.
- In a saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup and water. Over medium heat, bring the sugar to a simmer, and cook just until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the almond extract, powdered sugar and butter until thick and smooth. Immediately pour the icing on top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. The icing will set and crust over quickly.
- Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.
- This cake can be served slightly warm, or cooled completely and served at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use a springform pan?
Yes, you really do. This is a delicate cake, that can’t be turned out of a regular cake pan.
Is this cake gluten free?
Since this recipe is made with almond flour and contains no wheat flour, it’s naturally gluten free.
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High Altitude Flourless Almond Cake (GF)
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 8 or 9 inch springform pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 4 oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 oz almond paste (NOT almond pastry filling)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup almond flour
Icing
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 2 tbsp water
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup almonds, toasted and chopped
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer (handheld or stand) to beat the cream cheese, butter, almond paste, sugar, salt and vanilla for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Scrape the bowl down and beat again for 10 seconds.
- Fold in the almond flour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 40-45 minutes. The cake should be puffed and set, and just starting to turn a pale golden brown.
- Set the cake on a cooling rack and cool for 2 hours, then remove the sides of the pan, and set the cake on a serving plate.
- Note that the cake gets its leavening from eggs, which puff up somewhat like a souffle while baking. As the cake cools, it will settle back down and won't look nearly as puffed as it does when you first take it out of the oven.
Icing
- In a saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup and water. Over medium heat, bring the sugar to a simmer, and cook just until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the almond extract, powdered sugar and butter until thick and smooth. Immediately pour the icing on top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. The icing will set and crust over quickly.
- Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.
- This cake can be served slightly warm, or cooled completely and served at room temperature.
Is there Any way to make this recipe if you are not at a high altitude? It looks delicious! Thanks so much!
Angie
Angie, since this cake doesn’t contain any leavening, it should work at sea level, too, without any adjustments. I have some helpful info on this topic in my FAQs, as well: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
This cake was so good! Made it at altitude and it worked perfectly. Skipped the frosting and did a dusting of powdered sugar and served with strawberries. Only adjustment I had to make was to bake for 55 minutes. Everyone had seconds and asked me to make it again!