Almond Cream Recipe
Almond cream is frangipane without the pastry cream, which makes it a better choice for high-heat applications.
3 ounces (2/3 cup) ground almonds
3 ounces (2/3 cup) powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons rum
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) soft butter
With a whisk, in a medium mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle) cream the butter until it’s workable. Add the ground almonds and mix well, then the powdered sugar. Beat in the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and smooth. Add the cornstarch and rum and stir it all together.
This recipe makes about two cups, enough for one tart or galette, but can be scaled up easily. It keeps for a week in the refrigerator until needed.
Hello !!!
I have a request. Could you please please please do a tutorial on Japonaise cake? I cannot spell the name but it is very delicious. When I asked the sales person, he said it was a meringue based dessert with almond powder or hazelnut powder. When I asked, what other components were in the cake aka “the recipe”. He refused to go any further.
Ever since then I hunted the internet for a good japonaise recipe, with picture tutorials and a reliable tried and tested recipe. Not to forget professional looking too. But I failed miserably. If I find a recipe that is professional looking, I click on it and it ask me to buy the cake. I don’t want to buy the cake, I want to bake the cake.
I have baked the opera cake from your website. It was a good cake, very very delicious and yummy and I bake that cake very frequently. I also baked the Sacher torte, it was very yummy too. Now, I am thinking if you could please do a tutorial on japonaise cake, that would be great.
Thank you!!!!
Khan
I would be very happy to do that, Khan. This cake seems to be very popular in Australia and New Zealand. Tell me, where do you live and can you send me a picture of the cake so I know which one you mean? The cakes I’ve seen have meringue layers and buttercream filling. Does that sound right?
– Joe
Yes, it does sound right. From what I have tasted, it may be butter cream, or chocolate mousse. It could be either one. But, one thing I am very sure about is that it tasted divine 🙂
It’s probably buttercream then….rich, sweet and delicious! I think we’re on to something. 😉
– Joe
I had a question about a pear tart recipe I made last year from one of Bo Friberg’s recipes. Everyone liked it, but I thought it had an off-putting cereal taste. I’ve only ever had frangipane in that tart, so I’m not sure how it’s supposed to taste. I thought maybe I had undercooked it.
The frangipane recipe I used had 215g almond paste, 45g sugar, 100g butter, 1 egg, and 20g of flour. It doesn’t seem like too much flour when I compared to other recipes online, but I’m not sure what’s standard. My grandmother’s 1961 copy of Larousse Gastronomique suggested a much higher percentage in all three of its confusing recipes. Conversely, the only recipe I saw that used no flour was on Williams-Sonoma’s website.
I guess my questions are: Is the filling supposed to taste floury? Should I bake it longer? If it’s not supposed to taste floury, can I use less flour without making the filling curdle? Or, should I just start over with an improved recipe (perhaps on this website…)? 🙂
Sorry for the long question, but I’m starting to get requests for the tart, and crowd-pleasing is just not good enough. It needs to be perfect, darnit!
Hey Catherine!
I’m with you, a cereal taste in a frangipane is lousy. But do try my version of frangipane which has corn starch it, but only a tablespoon and to me it’s undetectable in the finished tart. 20 grams is way too much flour in my estimation. Let me know what you think!
– Joe
Ok, I got around to making a new tart. (I had a couple of batches of pears that wouldn’t ripen.) It was so great! Also, I made the almond cream into walnut cream because I adore the combination of walnuts and pears. I wanted to know why walnuts turn into a purplish-red color when in baked goods. (I thought it was very attractive and festive in the finished tart.) Any ideas?
Hey Catherine!
I don’t know the precise chemistry at work, all I know is that when you combine walnut skins and acid you get purple! I’d be curious to find out exactly what’s happening there!
Congratulations on the tart, it sounds delicious!
– Joe
Good to know it’s the skins. However, I would never dream of putting in the work to skin walnuts, so I guess I have no use for this information other than nerdy satisfaction. (Which is quite sufficient.) Thanks!
Oh goodness yes…skinning a hazelnut is one thing. Life’s too short to attempt the same with a walnut. I shudder at the thought.
Cheers,
– Joe
Hi Joe,
You say “almond cream is frangipane without the pastry cream, which makes it a better choice for high-heat applications like pear tarts” but for your pear tart recipe you used frangipane…confused! Thanks Joe
http://joepastry.com/category/pastry/tarts/pear-tart/
Good point, CSY! I’ll take that phrase out of the recipe post so as not to confuse in the future. Frangipane is more prone to breaking than almond cream, though it depends on the proportion. A pastry cream-heavy frangipane can’t stand big heat. Mine has only a little so it can survive! Cheers and thanks for helping me clarify!
– Joe
This recipe for Almond cream looks delicious! I have about 10lbs of almond meal.
Can I use it to make Almond Danish? The Almond Danish I’ve tasted almond filling looked more grainy I don’t know if it was almond paste, but can I use this cream to fill pastry?
Hi Andrea!
You certainly can. Just make a filling out of Almond cream or frangipane instead of almond paste and sugar. They’ll be great!
– Joe
Joe, are there any concerns regarding having raw eggs in almond cream? Also, that would also mean raw eggs in frangipane?
Hi Alex!
The answer is that even though sugar (and rum if you’re using it) discourage the growth of microbes, you can’t be totally sure that there aren’t any bugs in your frangipani. If you’re making a pear tart you need to bake it through. I place a whole pear in the very center of the tart to ensure that there’s now unbaked frangipane in the very center, which is the last part of the tart to bake. You can of course use pasteurized eggs!
Hope that helps! 😉
– Joe