Pain de genes is a deliciously rich French almond cake that is not at all difficult to make. The name, pain de genes, suggests that the recipe is originally from Genoa in Italy.
The almond cake is particularly lovely served as dessert with fresh raspberries and whipped cream. Ripe peaches or nectarines are pretty good with it too.
You can flavour the cake with grated lemon zest if you prefer. Another idea is to scatter flaked almonds on top of the cake before baking. The small amount of plain flour in the recipe can be replaced with potato flour or cornflour to make the cake gluten-free. Enjoy!
Photography by Sophie Harper
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 115g butter, softened
- 150g caster sugar
- 90g ground almonds (almond meal)
- 3 free-range eggs at room temperature
- 40g plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or 3 tsp Kirsch
Method