Scandinavian Almond Cake

To my knowledge, I have no Scandinavian blood in me.  But you can't live in the upper midwest without being immersed in Nordic culture. While there are some foods I shall never understand— lutefisk being tops on my list—I admit I have a fondness for the desserts.

Recently, Kathy and I were avoiding some highway construction and found ourselves passing the Nordic Ware factory.  Nordic Ware is probably best known for developing and trademarking Bundt® pans. I noticed they have an outlet store next to the factory and there was a sign indicating it was open.  One of the things that we purchased was an almond cake pan.  It came with a recipe for Almond Cake, which I cannot find on the Nordic Ware website.  They sold two styles of pans.  The all aluminum style came with a recipe for Almond Cake while the newer pans with a non-stick coating come with a recipe for cinnamon bread instead.  I have nothing against cinnamon bread but it will have to be incredibly tasty to beat out this Almond Cake.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1½ tsp almond extract
• ⅔ cup milk

• 1¼ cup flour
• ½ tsp baking powder

• 1 stick melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
• Combine the first four ingredients. Beat well.  
• Mix in the flour and baking powder.  
• Pour in the melted butter.
• Spray pan generously using a cooking spray with flour.
• Pour batter into pan.
• Bake for 40-50 minutes, until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  (I had to let it go for the entire 50 minutes.)
• Cool in pan.
• Sprinkle with sugar.