French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze

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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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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 Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

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.

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze averiecooks.com

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze - Fancy name for a super easy cake that tastes like a giant snickerdoodle cookie!

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.

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4.58 from 14 votes

French Almond Cookie Cake with Apricot Cream Cheese Glaze

By Averie Sunshine
French almond cakes are known for their chewy edges with soft, dense, rich, and moist interiors. There’s no chemical leaveners used in the cake, and it reminds me of a pan of cookie bars. It’s 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.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 12
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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

Serving: 1, Calories: 312kcal, Carbohydrates: 36g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 66mg, Sodium: 31mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g

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.

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I bake quite a bit and this one a select group ask for it over and over ( mostly guys?) A true stand out on the crowded potluck dessert table. Sometimes more almond less vanilla and other times I switch it around. Thank you!

  2. 5 stars
    I bake quite a bit and this one a select group ask for it over and over ( mostly guys?) A true stand out on the crowded potluck dessert table. Sometimes more almond less vanilla and other times I switch it around. Thank you!

  3. I just made this for my almond-loving husband (I’m not as much of a fan of the marzipan-flavor, but it was a special treat for him). He said it was his favorite dessert I’ve ever made for him! I didn’t even make the glaze as he doesn’t love cream cheese frosting. And I’m thrilled because it was one of the easiest desserts I’ve ever made!!

  4. Averie,

    I made the french almond cake, and it turned out delicious. I have a question and concern. Two days after leaving the cake in an airtight container at room temperature, the texture changed and became rather doughy, almost like a thick pancake. It was tough to cut through with a knife. What did I do wrong? Did I stir the flour too much? Thanks, Regine

    1. The times I’ve made this cake we went through it pretty fast so can’t say for sure what happened with your. Maybe it was a bit under-baked and then the texture changed over time? Or maybe over-baked and the texture changed? Can’t say for sure what exactly happened in your situation since there are a lot of variables. Over-mixing the batter can be a culprit for cakes turning doughy and tough b/c the gluten gets overly developed. That could be it, too. Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it tasted great!

  5. I have made this several times (with peach instead of apricot glaze) and it is gone in a flash.  It takes longer for the butter and eggs to reach room temperature then it does to make.  Taste like I went to a lot of trouble to make it and it is so simple but delicious. Thank you for sharing!

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe so many times and that it’s always a hit and disappears quickly! Have a great weekend!

  6. Delicious! I’ve made this several times, after a friend made it (or something close to it) for me. I’m making it for a Cookie Swap – do you know if it freezes well (make-ahead)?

    1. I think you could freeze the unglazed cookie cake and then glaze it right before the swap. But I haven’t personally tried so just taking a guess. Glad you’re a fan of this one and have made it a few times!

  7. I t sound so simple to make, so i decided to make it! it is in the oven as we speak. I will let you know how it turns out!

    Thank you!