I needed a celebration cake, not a fancy one, since I did not have time and energy for that. A small, unadorned one would do if it has all the goodness of being freshly homemade. And the reason to eat cake? Well, I’m back to the world of work. Luckily it did not take me long to find myself a job as a private general practitioner [gp] but I do admit that it’s kinda hard to get started.

The plus side of working outside the hospital setting is to get to enjoy my long-sought independence. I am my own boss; I work towards a diagnosis all by myself and get to choose my line of management as I deem appropriate. Also, I now have time to indulge all those little pleasures I missed out during my time as a pre-reg and to celebrate the new-found freedom, I settled on this simple yet elegant almond butter cake, from The Australian Women’s Weekly, baked to golden perfection in my new hexagonal cake pan.

ALMOND BUTTER CAKE

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup plain flour

1/3 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup flaked almonds

Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180 oC. Grease and flour a deep 15cm hexagonal baking tin.

  • Beat butter, sugar and almond extract in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.

  • Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in sifted flours and ground almonds in 2 batches.

  • Spread mixture into tin and top with flaked almonds. Bake for 30 minutes.

  • Reduce heat to 160 oC and bake for another 15 minutes until golden.

  • Stand cake in tin for 5 minutes before turning over on a wire rack.

  • Cool completely and dust with icing sugar. Makes 12 pieces.