5 from 1 vote

Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses

Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses | ZoeBakes photo by Zoë François

At the core this is a pound cake that has a perfectly dense crumb and is rich with almond paste, but it is also a tribute to spring, which is on its way. The decoration came to me after I made the blood orange glaze, that is the prettiest pink you can find in nature. The color is from the red fruit, without use of any food color (the season is short, so you can recreate this color with all natural food color that I link to below).

The pink got me to thinking about Easter, Mother’s Day, Bridal Showers, Wedding Cakes and the Couture Dresses at the Oscars, which are tonight. That’s a lot of inspiration for one little bundt cake, but this cake can handle the pressure. The almond cake under all the fancy is good enough to serve with nothing more than the glaze or a simple dusting of confectioners’ sugar, so don’t skip this one even if you aren’t up for piping roses, which I show you how to do in my instagram video of this cake.

Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses | ZoeBakes photo by Zoë François

Buttercream Roses for Almond Cake

Pipe the roses as seen in my instagram video

Here is the equipment I used to decorate the cake.

Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses | ZoeBakes photo by Zoë François
Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses | ZoeBakes photo by Zoë François

Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses

This Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses is a simple cake made fancier with blood orange glaze and piped roses. Perfect for a special occasion.
5 from 1 vote
Course: cake
Cuisine: Dessert

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (75g) sifted cake flour*
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 7 oz (198g) almond paste, cut into small pieces** LINK
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract make your own
  • 1 orange zested
  • 5 eggs room temperature

Blood Orange Glaze

  • 3 cups (300g) powdered (confectioners') sugar
  • 1/4 cup blood orange juice***
  • Buttercream for roses RECIPE HERE

Instructions

To Make the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup capacity Bundt Pan.
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  • Beat the almond paste with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer until broken into tiny pieces. Add sugar and beat on medium low speed until it becomes sandy. Add butter, a tablespoon at a time, until you've added half. Scrape the bowl frequently. Let the almond, sugar and butter beat on medium-low speed until it becomes a uniform mixture, then add the remaining butter and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy for about 3 minutes.
  • Add the vanilla and zest.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl between each and allowing the eggs to incorporate before adding the next.
  • Fold in half the flour, then repeat with remaining flour, just until combined.
  • Fill the pan with batter, smooth the top and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Prepare the Glaze

  • Stir together the powdered sugar and juice, adding the juice a bit at a time until the mixture is thin enough to pour over the cake, but thick enough to cling.

Buttercream Roses

Notes

*This means you sift the flour into the measuring cup, then sweep it.
**The almond paste needs to be soft or it won’t incorporate smoothly. If it is old and dried out, it will just stay in clumps.
***You can use other citrus, but it will effect the color. You can use Natural Food Coloring to create the color of your choice.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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14 thoughts to “Almond Cake with Buttercream Roses”

  1. This cake is so beautiful. Just last night was telling my friend how bundt cakes don’t wow me- but now I stand corrected. I recently began following you on Instagram and this is the first recipe of yours I’ve read through. I appreciate all your notes and links to the other recipes needed as well as where to get the pan!!! Thank you for sharing – I’m going to try my hand at this one!

  2. I made this and it tastes amazing, but looks like a Pinterest fail! Haha I’ll share my process here in case it helps anyone.

    First, the cake fits perfectly in the 6-cup Heritage Bundt pan! (The medium size) I pulled it out of the oven right at the 45-minute mark because a toothpick came out clean, but the cake did not come out cleanly even though I buttered & floured thoroughly. The cake is a little soft, so I think maybe it could’ve used a few more minutes for the crust to crisp/harden and separate from the ridges of the pan.

    I waited until the next morning to do the glaze (cake at room temperature, blood orange juice was in the fridge) and the glaze was pretty thick, even though I used less than 3 cups of p sugar. It definitely didn’t run like in the Instagram video. I tried warming it up in the microwave for a bit, and it got a little better. But when I poured it (over the cake on a raised rack), it definitely didn’t get that lovely pink glaze look; it’s a thick icing with visible trails running down, a little goopy-looking. Next time I think I’ll try to glaze it while it’s still a bit warm so the glaze soaks in more, and I’ll start with more orange juice (2 oranges instead of one) to make sure the frosting gets to the right consistency.

    Final note: this was my first time working with almond paste, and when I tried to mix it in my stand mixer it just kept coming back together into a big lump rather than breaking into smaller pieces. After a brief internet search, I put it into the food processor instead. It only took a couple pulses to break it up, then I added the sugar and got that perfect sandy texture. I added the mix back to my stand mixer and continued from there.

  3. Just wondering if you don’t have the fluted bundt cake pan what size bundt cake pan would work? Looks beautiful.

  4. This is beautiful, and it looks delicious! Couldn’t I use my 12 C bundt pan? If so, how might that affect the baking time? I appreciate any advice you have! Thanks 🙂

    1. Hi. Yes, it will bake faster in a larger pan, since the batter will not be as deep. I would check it about 10 minutes earlier.

      Enjoy! Zoë

  5. I am so excited to make this cake for my birthday this weekend, one quick question with the flour.

    Should I take flour, and sift it until a whole 3/4c is full?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Diana,

      You will want to sift the flour into a 1/2 cup and a 1/4 cup dry measuring cups, scraping them clean once they are full.

      Enjoy and Happy Birthday!! Zoë

    1. Hi! Unfortunately that swap won’t work because the products are very different and behave very differently in a recipe. I hope this helps!

        1. Hi Melissa, marzipan has more sugar, but it can be used in this recipe. Enjoy!

  6. 5 stars
    Wow! This cake is absolutely delicious. The almond flavor is so wonderful with the orange zest in the cake. Perfect! I had to follow another reviewer’s advice to do the almond paste and sugar in the food processor (wondering if it was a bit too warm in my kitchen), it worked like a charm.

    I didn’t do the buttercream roses and it was still wonderful. Recipe is a keeper!

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