ALMOND CAKE WITH KIRSCH CREAM AND LINGONBERRY PRESERVES

Almond Cake with Kirsch Cream and Lingonberry Preserves image

Yield Makes 8 to 10 servings

Number Of Ingredients 14

For cake
7 oz almond paste (not marzipan)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 large eggs at room temperature
For topping
1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream
2 tablespoons kirsch
1 cup lingonberry preserves
Special equipment: an 11- by 2 1/2-inch (12-cup) springform tube pan with a decorative bottom, or a 9- by 4-inch (14-cup) tube pan

Steps:

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter pan generously and dust with flour, knocking out excess.
Break almond paste into pieces and pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add almond paste and vanilla and beat until combined well, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and occasionally scraping down side of bowl. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed 30 seconds. Finish mixing batter by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping bottom of bowl.
Pour batter into tube pan, smoothing top. Bake in middle of oven, rotating pan halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean and edges begin to pull away from pan, 55 minutes to 1 hour total.
Cool cake completely in pan on a rack. (Cake may shrink and buckle slightly, but don't worry. This won't be visible once cake is inverted.) Run a thin knife around outside and inside edges and invert a plate over pan, then invert cake onto plate.
Make kirsch cream:
Just before serving, beat together cream and kirsch in a chilled bowl with cleaned beaters until soft peaks form.
Serve cake with kirsch cream and lingonberry preserves.