Almond Rum Cake | Gâteau de Nantes

You can trace the lineage of this deliciously moist almond rum cake to Nantes, a city in the Loire Valley in the western part of France. 

Gâteau de Nantes is a rich cake, made with almonds, flour, sugar, lemon zest, eggs, and lots of butter. It's then soaked in a rum and sugar syrup that is spiced with black pepper and allspice. Finally, it is topped with a sweet rum glaze. 

It's a simple yet elegant cake, and totally rich. It's origins can be traced to the nineteenth century to showcase the port city's sugar and rum trade with the West Indies. 

It fell off the radar for much of the twentieth century, but became popular again in the 1970s or so. 

The cake is wonderful the day it is made, and even better the next day. 

It's important to let it come completely to room temperature before glazing it and then to store it uncovered at first, and then under a cake dome or loose foil. If you refrigerate it, the glaze will become sticky. 

With rum in the batter, the soaker, and the glaze, this is definitely a cake meant for grown ups. 

Instead of a rum glaze, you could instead make a lemon glaze with lemon juice and confectioners' sugar to compliment the hint of lemon in the cake. 

Note: I used a small amount (about 20 grams) of pecan flour because I ran out of almond flour. It was a very small amount but it's probably why there are little flecks in the crumb of the cake. 

Equipment You May Need:

You will definitely need either a stand mixer or a hand mixer, especially for whipping the butter and sugar together, and then adding the eggs. 

You need to get the butter and sugar totally fluffy and pale. It's also important to develop a lot of volume to the batter as there is no leavening agent other than the eggs. 

A mesh sieve is also helpful for sifting the almond flour for the cake and the confectioners' sugar for the glaze to remove any clumps. 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

Our choices for November 2023 were ~

Spice Cake

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• My Recipe Reviews

Coconut Yule Log with Yuzu Buttercream

• A Little Bit of All Right

Almond Rum Cake

• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Amandie Bakes

Gâteau de Nantes

Yield: 16 slices

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 4 H & 5 M

You can trace the lineage of this deliciously moist almond rum cake to Nantes, a city in the Loire Valley in the western part of France.

Ingredients

Cake

• 6 large room temperature eggs
• 226 grams (1 cup) butter, room temperature
• 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
• Zest of 4 lemons
• 250 grams (2 1/2 cups) almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 80 grams (2/3 cup) all purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons dark rum

Rum Soaker

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon whole allspice
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Rum Glaze

• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 172 grams (1 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar

Instructions

To Make the Cake

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment and brush the sides with butter.
2. Lightly whisk together the eggs in a small bowl or measuring cup.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium speed until fluffy and pale. Beat in the almond flour and salt until incorporated.
4. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the eggs and continue beating until the batter is pale and really fluffy.
5. With the mixer on low, mix in the all purpose flour and then mix in the rum. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for five minutes and then turn it out onto a cake platter.

For the Soaker

1. While the cake is baking, in a saucepan, bring the sugar, water, allspice, and pepper to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Turn off the heat (to prevent the rum from igniting).
2. Add the rum to the pan and then bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes. Leave the syrup on a warm burner until the cake is ready. Strain out the allspice and peppercorns.
3. To soak the cake, cut several small shallow slits into the top of the cake (what was the bottom in the pan) with a sharp thin knife. Slowly brush the soaker over the cake until all of it has been absorbed. Let the cake cool, uncovered, until completely at room temperature, about 90 minutes.

To Make the Glaze

1. Whisk together the rum and the confectioner's sugar. Pour it in a steady stream over the center of the cake and let it spread evenly.
2. Let the cake sit, uncovered, for one hour to let the glaze set.
3. Keep the cake at room temperature under a cake dome.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

399

Fat (grams)

21 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

8 g

Carbs (grams)

40 g

Fiber (grams)

2 g

Net carbs

38 g

Sugar (grams)

32 g

Protein (grams)

6 g

Cholesterol (grams)

100 mg

Karen's Kitchen Stories

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