Chocolate Almond Coffee Cake: National Coffee Cake Day

Today is National Coffee Cake Day. Somtimes you actually add coffee to coffee cake, but usually, at least for me, it's a complementary morning cake.

I've mentioned many times, food associations and food products usually have great recipes on their site. California Almonds (Almond Board of California) has lots of recipes, but this is my favorite recipe on their site. I love coffee cake, and there are so many varieties.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND COFFEE CAKE

Ingredients
1/2 cup sweet butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (115°F)
1/2 cup warm milk
4 eggs
3-1/2 cups flour
1 cup almond paste
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup roasted almonds, finely chopped

Directions
Cream butter with 1/4 cup sugar and salt. Dissolve yeast in warm water, add pinch of sugar; let stand until bubbly. Add milk, yeast, eggs and flour to creamed mixture; mix well. Cover and let rise in warm place 2 hours or until mixture doubles.

Meanwhile, combine almond paste, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, cocoa and almond extract; set aside. Generously butter 8-cup tube mold; sprinkle with almonds and 1 Tbsp sugar. Stir dough down and place 1/3 into prepared mold, building up around tube. Sprinkle with half of almond paste mixture. Repeat, ending with dough. Seal edges of dough to pans with floured hands.

Bake at 400°F, 40 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

Photo: Almond Board of California