French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze is sweet, fragrant, rich, soft, chewy and strongly almond-flavored. Extremely fast, easy, and perfect for a brunch, shower, or anytime you need a smaller-sized cake that’s both easy and unique.
Almond extract lends the most wonderfully rich, nutty, and sweetly perfumed flavor to anything it touches.
And it touched this unique cake plenty in the three tablespoons I used.
French almond cakes are typically rectangular little cakes that have a firm, crusty exterior and a moist, soft interior. They’re also known as financiers because traditionally they look like gold bars. But since no one I know has financier molds to make individual cakes, one 9-inch cake is my solution.
It’s one of the easiest and fastest cakes I’ve ever made, and goes from cupboard to pan to oven in less than five minutes. Just one bowl and a whisk is all you need.
French almond cakes are typically made without chemical leaveners such as baking powder or soda, and rely only on eggs for lift. This creates a dense and moist cake, with an interior that resembles the interior of Cookie Bars.
Some recipes use almond meal or almond flour, but I didn’t want to run the risk of weighing down the leavener-less cake with nut-based flour and used trusty all-purpose.
I don’t like actual nuts in baked goods, but extracts are fair game. Biting into nuts in a soft cookie or tender piece of cake is as bad as biting into eggshells. Crunchy, they catch you off guard, and just don’t belong.
So I’m especially grateful for almond extract to give this cake all the almond flavor it has going.
If you’ve never bought almond extract, it’s sold near the vanilla extract in the grocery store. At my grocery store, a one-ounce bottle of store-brand real almond extract was $2.99. Imitation almond extract was also $2.99, so I went with real and happily used almost half the little bottle in the recipe and it’s the star of the show.
The cake is bursting at the seams with sweet almond flavor. Two tablespoons of extract are used in the cake batter, and one tablespoon in the glaze. I wanted to make sure I knew this was an almond cake, not a cake masquerading as one, and used the extract liberally.
It’s traditional to top the cake with jam or slivered almonds, and I used apricot-peach jam mixed with cream cheese, draped over the top. I could happily smear that mixture on everything I see. The tang of the cream cheese cuts some of the sweetness from the jam.
My husband especially loved this unique little cake. It reminds me of a giant chewy sugar or snickerdoodle cookie infused with almond, and baked in a cake pan.
It has chewy edges like a blondie bar or snickerdoodle cookie bar, while the interior is soft, dense, rich, and moist.
While it was baking, my husband came out of his office and asked me what that heavenly smell was. Almond extract is like sweet perfume that permeates the air in the most lovely way.
It’s sweet, light, and feels like spring. I think it would be perfect for a brunch, shower, or any time that you need a smaller-sized, fast, and very easy little cake.
And I really want to eat eat the glaze by the spoonful, especially the little chunks of apricot that peek through.
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French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick + half of 1 stick)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons almond extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup toasted slivered almonds, optional for sprinkling (I did not use)
Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze
- ¾ cup apricot-peach jam, or a pineapple, peach, apricot or favorite jam
- ¼ cup cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
Instructions
- Cake – Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch cake round with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 75 seconds. Allow butter to cool momentarily so you don’t scramble the egg.
- Add all remaining cake ingredients (except flour) and whisk until smooth. Stir in the flour until just combined; don’t overmix. Turn batter out into prepared pan. Top with optional slivered almonds.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until top is golden and set, and edges will be firmer and pulling away slightly from sides of pan. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and allow it to cool completely. While cake cools, make the glaze.
- Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze – Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until combined, or beat with a mixer until combined. Spread glaze on top of cake (don’t not have to be completely cooled), slice and serve. Cake will keep airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I refrigerated it because of the cream cheese, glaze but if omitting or using another kind of glaze, cake can be stored at airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Have you tried French almond cake or financiers before? Almond extract? Nuts in desserts?
I’ve never been to France or had the real thing, but I’d be happy to go on a taste-testing trip in the name of field research as soon as someone wants to buy my airline ticket.
Averie this is gorgeous! I love it.
I’m not one for cake, but I’m all about the frosting. If these were made in cookie form, I’d eat them by the handful. In fact, I could see this as a sandwich cookie. I do LOVE apricots. With white chocolate??!
Your writing in this post is fantastic, by the way. Almost lyrical!
Oh wow~ these are stunning! I would love them with espresso too. Love that almond extract. Great recipe as always Averie! xx
I’m not much a fan of apricots, yet I’m clawing at the screen for a taste of that luscious cream cheese glaze. A-MA-ZIIIING, Averie. I want a spoonful! (Or bowlful). These cake looks totally gorgeous and perfect for a Mother’s Day brunch. Except my mom is allergic to almonds, so maybe I’ll make it for her in spirit but really just eat the whole thing myself :)
One of my favorite smells in the entire world is an almond extract-laden dessert baking in the oven. You’re right – it’s absolute heaven! And this cake looks fabulous.
This cake looks SO incredibly good. The apricot cream cheese glaze sounds like the perfect icing on top!
Thanks, Marcie!
Averie, we should really get together and bake someday! I looove almond extract – it usually steps in for the vanilla in a lot of my recipes. Also, your plates are beautiful!! xo
I can totally see you into almond extract. Being that you love lemon, I am not surprised that you love this as well! Both very distinct flavors and I knew you’d love it!
I just bought a bottle of almond extract (I’m trying to develop a cake batter recipe) and I may just have to use it to make these!
You’re all set then & can make this!
So, so pretty! I love that glaze…gorgeous!
I don’t bake with almond extract enough! I love the fragrance – it’s like nothing else! This cake sounds amazing! Love the glaze idea! Pinning!!!
Thanks for the pin and yes, it had been way too long for me too that I baked with it!
This is a beauty, Averie! Makes me want to have a tea party. :) And I LOVE your plates!
Thrift store – lucky finds! Thank you :)
I bet some almond emulsion would take this over the edge. You could use the base of this recipe for so many different flavors.
Yes the base is versatile, indeed!
I looooove this cake. I’m all about almonds in everything, especially extract! I bet this smelled amazing!
Crazy good amazing! I need a perfume like it, actually!
We call this Swedish Almond Cake in our home, and it’s phenomenal!!! LOVE the addition of the apricot cream cheese glaze!
Oh I saw some versions for “Swedish” almond cake rather than “French” and wasn’t quite sure of the differences and didn’t study them too much but glad to know you make something similar and love it! We do too!
I’m with you on the love for almond extract! It is so heavenly, but surprisingly controversial. I have met a lot of people who don’t like it. They are nuts.
But I totally can’t get with you on no nuts in cookies. Oh man. That is the best part! I love contrasts in textures. I have actually converted many of nut cookie protesters with my signature cookie. Maybe someday we will meet and I will try it out on you :)
This cake is absolutely gorgeous!
I am just not into marbles in my soft things! I do love love love texture; just not nuts. I wrote a cookbook about peanut butter! So I do love nuts, but not whole in anything soft. Just my thing :)
I don’t bake with the flavor of almond extract nearly enough! I, like you, don’t care for nuts in my baked goods – but nut flavors, I’m all about! This cake is so pretty with that apricot glaze! :)