Honey Almond Pastry Cake

Alternating layers of honey almond puff pastry, vanilla sponge, and vanilla pastry cream make up this Honey Almond Pastry Cake which also happens to make the perfect January birthday cake.

Can this cake be made gluten free?

Ok so I haven’t tested making the vanilla cake with a gluten free flour but you could use King Arthur’s gluten free vanilla box cake mix which is delicious btw and then use Dufour’s gluten free puff pastry and the whole cake will be gluten free!

What is the best frozen puff pastry?

There are many a frozen puff pastry on the market so it’s hard to know which one is the best. Personally I think Dufour pastry is top tier (you can find it at Whole foods but it’s quite pricey). Then the Whole Foods brand is next and that’s what I used when making this cake! My last recommendation is Pepperidge farms puff pastry – it’s available at most grocery stores and puffs great!

Can this cake be made in advance?

Yes! I actually recommend stacking this cake the night you plan to serve it to let it firm up a bit. The pastry can be made pre-baking and stored in the freezer for up to a week or the fridge for 1 day. Be sure to defrost it in the fridge overnight if storing in the freezer. The cake can be baked the day before assembling and stored wrapped up at room temperature.

Additional Recipes to try!

• Blackberry Almond Cream Cake
• Plum & Cream Pastry Cake
• Puff Pastry Cake

Tips for making a Honey Almond Pastry Cake

• If you don’t have time to make the rough puff pastry, you can use a store bought puff pastry but I really recommend making it yourself! This recipe is super simple, just takes a little bit of time.
• Keep everything COLD when making the pastry, you don’t want the butter to melt into dough.
• It’s ok if the dough looks rough and scraggly in the beginning. The folding, rolling, and chilling process will smooth out and hydrate the dough so don’t be tempted to add more water.
• The worst thing you can do with this cake is to assemble it while the elements are still warm. If you want to split making this cake over 3 days you absolutely can. Just prepare all of the elements on day 1. On day 2 assemble the cake. Let the cake set overnight and then enjoy on day 3.
• Make sure the puff pastry has been rolled thin and is nice and cold before baking.
• Cook the pastry cream low and slow and don’t forget about it. It will take a while to begin to thicken and then all of a sudden it will go from liquid to thick and stiff.
• I’ve also made this with a few layers of orange marmalade in between the cake and pastry layers and it’s so yummy!
• If you want to double this cake, simply double everything and stack a full square in the 9″ x 9″ square metal pan.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour: All purpose flour is used in the cake and the puff pastry. I like to use King Arthur brand but any brand should work.
• Sugar: White granulated sugar is used in the pastry cream, the vanilla cake, the puff pastry, and the honey almond syrup.
• Fine sea salt: Salt seasons and balances out the sweetness of the cake, pastry, and pastry cream.
• Butter: Salted butter is used in all elements of this cake. I recommend using salted Kerrygold butter but it’s most important to use it for the puff pastry because the high fat content makes it easier to roll out and layer.
• Ice Water: It’s important to use ice water when making the pastry to keep everything nice and cold!
• Corn Starch: Starch is used in the pastry cream to thicken the cream – arrowroot starch would work as well!
• Whole Milk: Whole milk is used as the liquid in the pastry cream.
• Heavy Cream: Heavy cream is added into the pastry cream.
• Eggs: Standard large whole eggs are used in the cake and egg yolks are in the pastry cream.
• Vanilla: Vanilla extract is used in the cake and vanilla bean paste is added into the pastry cream but extract can be used instead.
• Oil: The vanilla cake is oil based but you can use olive oil or a different neutral oil such as avocado, algae, or vegetable oil.
• Buttermilk: I like to use whole milk buttermilk in this cake but if you don’t have it you can use 45 grams greek yogurt and 25 grams milk whisked together.
• Baking Soda & Powder: Both of these help the cake rise so make sure they aren’t expired.
• Honey: Any honey you like will work for the honey almond topping.
• Cinnamon: A bit of cinnamon adds warmth and flavor to the honey almond topping.
• Sliced Almonds: It’s important to used sliced almonds not slivered almonds here!

How to make a Honey Almond Pastry Cake

Rough Puff Pastry

• Add ice into a cup of water and set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar with a fork.
• Thinly slice the cold butter, dropping it into the dry ingredients as you do. The slices should be between 1/8th and 1/4 of an inch thick.
• I like to use a pairing knife and cut directly off a big Kerrygold block. But you can also pre slice the butter on a cutting board if you prefer. Just make sure the butter stays cold.
• Smush each slice of butter between your fingers into the dry ingredients to flatten them out and start working in the flour mixture.
• Drizzle the ice water onto the surface of everything in the bowl.
• Use a fork to mix and slightly smush the water into the mixture until it looks shaggy. It’s ok if it still looks a little dry but there shouldn’t be large amounts of completely dry flour left. Don’t be tempted to add more water.
• Pour the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the sides of the plastic wrap to smush the dough into a square that’s between 1/2″ and 1″ thick.
• Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, dust your work surface with flour. Take the pie dough out of the fridge and roll the dough out in a rectangle that is about 1/4″ thick. Use flour and a bench scraper as needed to keep the dough moving and keep it from sticking. If the butter seems too soft, increase the next chill time to 55 minutes.
• Letter fold the dough so fold the top third over the middle third, and then the bottom third over the other two thirds.
• Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough back out to 1/4″ thick. Repeat the letter folds once more. It should be a skinny long rectangle so when you fold it you will have a square.
• Rewrap the dough and chill for another 45 minutes.
• After the 45 minutes have passed repeat the above steps of rolling and folding the dough twice. Rewrap the dough and chill for another 45 minutes. At this point you can chill it for as long as you need until you’re ready to use it.
• If chilling for more than 6 hours, place it in a ziptop bag to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

Pastry Cream

• Place the butter in a medium, heat safe, mixing bowl and place a fine mesh sieve on top.
• In a large pot, whisk together the corn starch and sugar. *If you need to do this in two batches you can! Then pour in the milk and heavy cream and whisk to combine. Add in the egg yolks, salt and vanilla bean paste, and whisk once more.
• Place the pot over medium low heat and whisk constantly scraping the bottom and edges of the pot. It will feel like it’s taking a while but all of a sudden it’ll get really thick so don’t stop whisking.
• Once thick, remove the pot from the heat and pour through the fine mesh sieve over the butter.
• Whisk until combined and cover the surface with a layer of plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
• To cool it down faster you can always spread it on a quarter sized baking sheet and cover the surface with plastic wrap.
• Once cooled to room temperature, transfer the cream to the fridge and let it chill completely – this one needs to be fridge cold!

Vanilla Cake

• Grease a 9″ x 9″ square metal baking pan with a tablespoon of soft but not melted butter.
• Lay a piece of parchment paper that is 14″ x 8″ from one side to the other and rub it flat against the butter and pan. The butter will help the paper stick.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, salt, orange zest, vanilla extract and almond extract until smooth.
• Add in the buttermilk and oil and whisk again.
• Lastly, pour in the flour, baking soda and baking powder.
• Whisk once more until combined and smooth.
• Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then pour in the vanilla batter.
• Smooth out the cake with an offset spatula or any tool you have.
• Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes, then rotate 180 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
• Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then use the parchment to carefully lift the cake out. Leave to cool completely before assembling.

Honey Almond Pastry

• Turn the oven up to 425 F – we will be using the rough puff from earlier which should be in the fridge. If using store bought, defrost the puff pastry according to package instructions. Keep an eye on the pastry, it still needs to be cold!
• Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Lightly dust the work surface with a bit of flour. Lay the sheet pastry on the floured surface.
• Sprinkle the surface with a bit more flour. Use a rolling pin to roll the pastry out into a thin layer that is at least 10″x 15″. Trim the edges so that you have clean sides.
• Transfer the pastry to the parchment lined baking sheet.
• Use a fork to prick the surface all over, I’m talking ALL OVER.
• Bake for 15 minutes in the hot oven.
• While the pastry is baking, make the honey almond topping.
• In a medium sauce pot add in the honey, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter and water. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until smooth and combine. Let it start to bubble just for a moment and then remove it from the heat.
• Pour in the almonds and stir to combine.
• Take the baked pastry out of the oven and turn it down to 350 F.
• Carefully flip the partially baked pastry over and then pour the honey almond topping over it. Use a spatula or spoon to make sure the syrup coats the whole surface and the almonds are evenly distributed.
• Bake it again in the oven for another 15 minutes. Make sure that you’ve also turned the pan 180 degrees so what was at the back of the oven is now at the front.
• Once baked, set aside to cool completely. This one takes a minute to really cool so leave it be.

Assemble

• Once all elements have been made and cooled off, it’s time to assemble.
• Cut the cooled vanilla cake in half to create two rectangles that are 9″ x 4.5″.
• Take one piece of cake as a guide and cut two rectangles of the pastry into the same size. Cut one of the rectangles into 8 even slices by cutting it in half (hamburger style) then cut those halves in half and in half again once more.
• Remove the plastic from the surface of the pastry cream. Use a whisk or a hand mixer to beat until smooth.
• Rinse out the 9″x9″ pan we used to bake the cake. Line half of the pan with parchment paper – ideally you want the sheet to stick up a couple inches past the top of the pan.
• Lay one layer of cake into the lined side of the pan pressing it into the edge of the pan. Use a piping bag or a ziploc with the corner cut off to pipe little dots of the pastry cream onto the surface of the cake. You want to use up a between 1/4 and 1/3 of the pastry cream. *the more you use the less you will have to decorate but if you don’t want any for decoration on top then use a full third!
• Lay the uncut layer of honey almond pastry over the pastry cream and just barely press down to level. Repeat with the cream and the next layer of cake, using the edges of the pan to keep the cake straight and stable.
• Repeat with the cream and finally top with the 8 slices of pastry, keeping them in the same order/position as if they had never been cut.
• Save any extra cream for decorating in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Press any excess parchment onto the sides of the cake. Transfer the pan and cake to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours – even 12 is great.

Serve

• Once set, decorate the top however you want with the extra pastry cream or a dusting of powdered sugar or both! Cut the cake with a thick sharp knife, following where the top layer of pastry has already been cut.

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