Amaretto Poppy Seed Cake

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Every once in a while I can't decide what I want to make.  I've got too many sticky notes plastering my desk, I've bookmarked too many tempting blog posts, there are too many cookbooks lying around with too many little tabs sticking out of their pages, and it overwhelms me.  At times like this the id takes over.  I just make an arbitrary decision.  I want almond poppy seed cake.

But of course no decision is ever arbitrary.  Almonds are up there with lemons and chocolate in my top flavors playbook. And ever since that tangerine cake I've been wanting to revisit its moist dense texture loaded with crunchy poppy seeds. Between the almond flour, the paste, the extract and the Amaretto there's 4 layers of almond flavors here, and I could have made it 5 if I'd thought to sprinkle some nuts on top.

No need to buy a big bottle of Amaretto just for this...those mini bottles are perfect.  And you can pop the other half of the tube of almond paste into the freezer for another use.

Amaretto Poppy Seed Cake
oven to 350
1 cup (two sticks) room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tube almond paste, crumbled
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup almond flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1cup buttermilk 
1 tsp almond extract
3 Tbsp Amaretto
1 3/4 cups poppy seeds
for the glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp almond extract
milk or cream to thin

• Cream the butter, sugar and almond paste together.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, while beating.
• Mix the buttermilk with the almond extract and Amaretto in a measuring cup.
• Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl with the poppyseeds.
• Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet to the butter, beating just to combine.
• Spoon the batter into a greased tube pan and smooth out the top.
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool completely before glazing.
• For the glaze mix the confectioner's sugar with enough milk or cream to thin to a glaze consistency, and add in the extract.  You can also use Amaretto to thin the sugar if you prefer.  Sprinkle a few poppy seeds or sliced almonds on top if you want to.

Note: This moist cake keeps well but the glaze will not stay smooth and pretty after a day under a cake dome.  If you are serving any kind of glazed cake for company, it's best to glaze it the same day you'll be serving it.  I won't lie, I eat this for breakfast, but if you aren't up for that, at the very least have a sliver before lunch.