Raspberry Almond Cake Ispahan

Add this impressive dessert - Raspberry Almond Cake Ispahan - to your recipe collection. Flavored with rose and fresh raspberries, this moist and delicately scented loaf cake may seem sophisticated, but it is incredibly easy to make.

Have you ever heard of French family desserts called Ispahan? It is a “clan” of 42 sweet treats created by the French chef Pierre Hermé: tart, choux, mille-feuille, croissant, madeleine, macaron, sablé, tea, jam, nougat, caramel, etc.

Once a year, in Pierre Hermé’s boutiques, there is a season of Fetish Ispahan, which is a reason to over-eat rose/lychee/raspberry’s creations. So, if you plan a trip to Paris, experience all variations of Ispahan desserts in the City of Lights.

Jump to:

• What is Ispahan Dessert?
• Cake Ispahan
• Raspberry almond cake toppings
• Why this cake recipe works
• Ingredients
• How to make this raspberry almond cake
• Expert tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More delicious cake recipes you will love
• Recipe

What is Ispahan Dessert?

Ispahan dessert is named after a famous Damask rose Ispahan. This dessert is famous for its unique combination of rose sweetness, power of raspberry, and floral note of lychee.

Family of desserts Ispahan has become Pierre Hermé's obsession since 1987, and in 2013 he published a whole book entirely dedicated to Ispahan desserts - "Pierre Herme Ispahan."

Cake Ispahan

Cake Ispahan is a raspberry loaf cake that belongs to a family of desserts Ispahan. It is dense and moist due to almond flour and fresh raspberries baked inside the cake. The cake has its inner architecture where berries are arranged in an attractive pattern.

The cake is flavorful due to rosewater. Yes, the rose fragrant is exotic, but at the same time, it is light and not overpowering. The right balance of ingredients forms a perfect match, a real treat!

This raspberry almond cake seems a casual loaf cake from the first impression, but its blend of rose with raspberry upgrades the cake to a romantic dessert.

Raspberry almond cake toppings

There is an authentic version of how to decorate the cake, but I also put my own touch in the cake topping, trying to stay in the spirit of Ispanan.

Follow the chef's recommendations and decorate the cake with crystallized rose petals and crushed Pink Praline - red-colored candied almonds - that give an additional crunchiness to the dessert.

Crystallized rose petals significantly contribute to the magic of this raspberry loaf cake. To crystallize untreated red rose petals, start two days in advance: delicately brush them with egg white, dust them with icing (powdered) sugar, and dry petals on parchment paper (in the air) for two days.

Another way to finish the cake is to pour the white chocolate and dried raspberry glaze over the cake (the recipe is below).

The simplest way to decorate the dessert is to sprinkle the top of the cake with rose icing sugar and decorate with fresh raspberries. To make rose icing sugar, blend equal parts of edible rose buds or rose petals and caster sugar in a blender or food processor.

Why this cake recipe works

1. The cake is soft, buttery, and moist.
2. The raspberry cake recipe is straightforward and easy to make.
3. Due to fresh raspberries, the cake makes a great summer fruit dessert.
4. It has a romantic touch due to the rosewater flavor.
5. This loaf cake can be served on any occasion: at a birthday party, baby shower, to finish a dinner party, bring it on a picnic, or enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast.
6. The cake batter holds fresh raspberries, preventing them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for detailed amounts and instructions. I recommend making this recipe as written for the best results. 

Butter: use unsalted softened butter. To prepare it for baking, take it out of the fridge two hours before you start.

Icing sugar: either make it yourself with a coffee grinder, either use a store-bought powdered sugar.

Almond flour: use blanched finely ground almond flour to make the cake. Please do not try to substitute it for a coarse almond meal. Follow one important tip: while measuring almond flour, spoon it from a container gently into a measuring cup. Do NOT pack/press it down! Read this article about How to Measure Ingredients.

Eggs: use large chicken eggs; the same is applicable for egg whites and egg yolks. Use an egg separator to facilitate separating egg whites from yolks while eggs are cold.

Sugar: use either granulated white sugar or caster sugar.

Milk: the recipe calls for whole milk.

Rosewater: use top-quality rosewater to flavor the dessert. Read on what rosewater is and how to use it in baking.

White chocolate: either use Callebaut white chocolate or simply use Lindt classic white chocolate (you will need to buy two chocolate bars).

Grape seed oil: it is a flavorless oil added to make the glaze in the recipe. I would not recommend to replace it with any other kind of oil.

Freeze-dried raspberries: either purchase freeze-dried raspberries or make dried raspberries yourself. To do so, preheat oven to 195 F/90 C. Place 10.5 oz (300 g) fresh raspberries on the parchment paper and bring them in the oven. Let berries dry for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Then cool down and chop dried raspberries into middle-sized pieces.

All-purpose flour: yes, you will need to use all-purpose flour in this raspberry cake recipe, and I do not suggest substituting it for another kind of flour/meal.

How to make this raspberry almond cake

Preheat oven to 355 F/180 C. Sift almond flour and icing (powdered) sugar into a medium bowl and set aside. Sift all-purpose flour into another bowl and put aside as well.

To make the cake batter, beat softened butter and almond flour/sugar mixture 3 minutes, using an electric mixer. Add a whole egg with egg yolks (photo 1) and whisk 2 minutes. Then add milk mixed with rosewater and beat 1 minute again (photo 2).

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites (not too firm), gradually adding granulated sugar. Delicately add egg whites to the cake batter (photo 3), incorporating flour at the same time.

Mix with a rubber spatula, starting from the center, from bottom to top (photo 4). Don’t overfold! It is better to under fold than overfold.

Butter a nonstick loaf pan and dust with flour. Garnish the cake pan with ⅓ of the almond-rose batter and smooth out. Arrange fresh raspberries away from the edges (photo 5). Then cover raspberries with another ⅓ of batter. Add berries again at a distance from the edges. Pour ⅓ of the remaining batter over fresh raspberries.

Lower the oven temperature to 300 F/150 C and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a knife can be inserted and removed cleanly without streaks of the batter (photo 6). Unmold the cake immediately after baking and allow to cool to room temperature.

To make the white chocolate and dried raspberry glaze, melt white chocolate in a microwave in 3 (15-second) intervals, stirring between each melt. Add grapeseed oil, chopped freeze-dried raspberries and gently mix them (photo 7).

Let the glaze cool down to 30 C/86 F maximum; otherwise, it will be too runny to stick to the surface of the cake.

To decorate the cake, transfer the dessert on a wire rack placed on top of a tray. Pour the glaze over the cake (photo 8).

Expert tips

1. Make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature. Take the butter out of the fridge two hours before you start baking.
2. Avoid egg yolk or/and eggshells in the egg whites while breaking eggs. Slightly beat egg whites (not too firm).
3. Add a few drops of red food color to the batter to get slightly rose color of the cake if you desire; although, this touch of food coloring is optional.
4. Use only fresh raspberries since the frozen ones are too watery to make the cake.
5. Divide the cake batter into three parts to make equal layers of the batter and raspberries.
6. Preheat oven to 355 F/180 C and then LOWER heat to 300 F/150 C at the time of baking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make this cake gluten-free?

There is a scientific ratio for almond flour and all-purpose flour used in the recipe; so, I would not recommend making any changes. You cannot easily substitute wheat flour for another kind of meal. If you look for a gluten-free cake, I have French Apricot and Almond Cake recipe here on my website.

Can you substitute rosewater?

If you are not a fan of rosewater, just leave it out or replace it with vanilla extract.

Can you make the cake with frozen raspberries?

Although frozen raspberries are available all-year-round, please, use only fresh raspberries since the frozen ones release too much juice while baking the cake. Moreover, using frozen berries, you will not get the inner beauty of the raspberry loaf cake that it is famous for.

How to store the cake

You can store the unglazed cake in a cake box or airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days. Being glazed, keep it up to 3 days.

Can you freeze the almond cake?

Yes, you can. To freeze the unglazed cake, let it cool, then wrap it in a plastic film and place in the freezer. The cake can be frozen for up to two months.

To thaw, place it in the fridge overnight or on the counter for 3 to 4 hours. On the day of serving, make the glaze and decorate the cake.

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The nutrition information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator and is intended for informational purposes only and should be used as a general guideline. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should independently verify it using your preferred tool. Please, read the disclaimers in our Privacy Policy.

The recipe was adapted from http://www.niksya.ru/?p=13436. It was originally published on February 19, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.