Italian Christmas cake with almonds

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 150 g butter, room temperature
• 150 g cane sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 230 g flour (type 00 or pizza flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• possibly milk
• 150 g raisins
• 100 g almond(s), peeled, ground
• 1 orange(s), untreated, zest
• 1 lemon(s), untreated, zest
• 50 g almonds, peeled, whole kernels
• some powdered sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 50 minutes

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and apricot jam, whisking constantly. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture and fold in. If the batter is too stiff, add a little milk. Add the almonds, raisins, lemon and orange zest and stir into the batter. Line a 24cm springform pan (or, if you have one, a panettone pan) with baking paper and pour in the batter. Smooth the batter with the back of a spoon. Distribute the whole almonds in rounds over the surface, but don’t press too firmly, otherwise they will slide down during baking. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (top/bottom heat). For a panettone pan, the baking time is approximately 90 minutes; for a 24cm springform pan, approximately 1 hour. It’s best to test with a skewer. Dust the cooled cake with icing sugar. Alternatively, the cake can also be glazed. To do this, brush the still warm cake with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of milk and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and place it back in the oven for another 3 – 4 minutes.