Yield and time
- Makes: one 25cm round, 14-16 wedges
- Hands-on: 15 minutes
- Total: about 1 hour 35 minutes (with the bake and cool-in-tin)
Ingredients
- 400g plain flour
- 320g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 320g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten (one for the dough, one for the glaze)
- 80g almond meal
- A pinch of fine salt
- A generous handful of whole almonds, roughly chopped
You’ll need a 25cm round springform tin, a mixing bowl, a fork, and a pastry brush.
Method
Heat the oven to 170°C fan.
Tip the flour (400g), sugar (320g), salt (pinch), almond meal (80g), and cold cubed butter (320g) into the bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the texture looks like coarse sand with a few pea-sized lumps. Add one of the two beaten eggs and bring the mix together with a fork into a stiff, slightly crumbly dough.
Grease the tin lightly. Tip the dough in and press it flat with the back of a spoon, getting the surface as level as you can.
Score a shallow diamond pattern across the top with the back of a knife. Brush the second beaten egg over the top, into the score lines. Scatter the chopped almonds and press them in gently so they stick to the wash.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. You’re looking for deep gold at the edges, light gold in the middle, and a slight give when you press the centre with a fingertip. Don’t push past the slight-give stage. The centre should look almost underdone when you pull it; it firms up as the cake cools.
Cool in the tin completely (at least an hour), or it’ll crack on turning out. Then turn out and cut into wedges with a serrated knife.
Storage
Three to five days in an airtight tin at room temperature.