Swedish Visiting Cake

This is the kinds of cake you want to throw together when guest pop in. It's not complicated and will take no time at all to put together. Dorie Greenspan's Swedish Visiting Cake includes both vanilla and almond extract and a handful of other ingredients your bound to have around the house. The recipe is from her cookbook, "Baking, From My Home to Yours". The interior of this cake is soft and dense with a slightly crispy exterior.  I bet this would be delicious with chocolate melted and drizzled on top.

       
Ingredients:

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of sugar
Zest of one lemon
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup white whole wheat/all purpose flour
1 stick of butter (melted, then cooled)
1/4 cup sliced almonds

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a spring form 9-inch pan.

Pour the sugar into a medium bowl. Add the lemon zest and with your fingers, blend the zest into the sugar until the mixture is moist and aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Add the salt and the extracts; whisk well. Tip: whisk and whisk, you want to create volumn)

With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour. Then, fold in the melted butter. Scrape the batter into your baking dish. Scatter the almonds on top. (she also sprinkles a tablespoon of sugar on top). I used sliced honey roasted almonds from Trader Joes.

Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown, the inside will remain moist. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. Enjoy!

P. S. 07/05/2020 Quarantine day, made this cake again, no visitors, just Don and I. Instead of adding lemon zest I added orange zest. Made this a totally different tasting profile. Top still a little crunchy, interior very moist. Winner, Winner!