French Almond Cake (L'amandier Gateau) (2025)

L'amandier is a French almond cake that is super moist and rich. It doesn't have any wheat flour, which makes it gluten-free.

This dessert melts in your mouth with its amazing nutty flavor profile; you will want to pamper yourself with every bite.

With the variety of flavors and types available, finding a good cake recipe can be difficult, especially for a gluten-free cake.

Not only that, but lots of flourless cakes just don't taste that great.

Most cakes rely on wheat flour for structure, but that is not the case with l'Amandier.

This gluten-free almond cake is made with almond flour, eggs, sugar, and butter.

It is super moist and rich. The almond flour gives it a nutty flavor and a beautiful texture.

If you have a sweet tooth and love almonds, you will fall in love with this simple almond cake.

And you might discover that making French cake recipes is one of the best things in life.

You will love French Chocolate Cake or Yogurt Cake once you make them. Or give the Chocolate Terrinerecipe a try. It is gluten-free too.

What is l'Amandier?

L'Amandier, Amandier, or Namandier is a French fondant almond cake (or gâteaufondant aux amandes).

L'Amandier is translated as 'almond tree' in English, while namandier means almond cake. L'Amandier and Namandier both refer to the exact cake.

Amandier is a great tasting treat that is easy for your pronunciation. It sounds charming: amandier.

It is a flourless almond cake made with a few pantry staples such as eggs, sugar, butter, and almond flour. It looks like an excellent Jewish Passover cake, but it contains butter.

Interestingly, it has the same weight as eggs, sugar, almond flour, and half of the melted butter.Isn't it easy to remember?

The origin of the cake is unclear. However, it closely resembles Saint Jacques cake or Tarta de Santiago.

So, l'Amandier is probably the French version of the Spanish almond cake with the addition of melted butter.

Why you should try this recipe

This tasty and lovely cake is made without wheat flour, so it is naturally gluten-free.

There is no doubt that this almond flour cake with the moist crumb will delight the whole family.

A gourmet cake, described as a "treasure of flavors," is totally worth making. It is flavorful, moist, and delicious.

Finally, this almond cake recipe (gateau aux amandes in French) is made within an hour and is perfect for teatime or brunch.

It would even work for a special occasion as an easy and quick birthday cake in terms of taste, texture, and ingredients, but also without much effort.

Just arrange a few fresh berries on top. Now that is a tasty-looking perfect cake.

Everything homemade tastes better, although you can buy l'Amandier cake mix on Amazon.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Also, read how to make a cake moist.

Butter: high-quality unsalted butter is the key ingredient of this moist almond cake. Don't replace it with margarine or brown butter.

Sugar: use granulated sugar or caster sugar to make the recipe. The cake is very sweet, so feel free to decrease the amount of white sugar by 10-20%.

To reach your personal right amount of sweetness, you will need to experiment with the sugar in the recipe next time.

Why next time? Because it is worth trying the authentic recipe first.

Eggs: use large eggs at room temperature. You don't need to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks.

Salt enhances the flavors of the cake, bringing it to the level of a masterpiece.

Almond extract: the recipe calls for bitter almond extract, but you can omit this ingredient if it isn't available.

It is not the same, but you can try to replace the bitter almond extract with vanilla extract.

Almond flour is one of the main ingredients of this ground almond cake. So choose almond flour of the best possible quality.

You can also make the ground almonds yourself by processing whole almonds in a food processor. Leave the skin on for a more intense almond flavor and pronounced taste.

Flaked almonds: use flaked or sliced almonds to decorate the cake. Please avoid slivered or whole almonds since they might sink into the batter while baking.

Powdered sugar or icing sugar is optional to dust the top of the cake.

How to make French almond cake

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F/180 degrees C. Grease a 9-inch/23 cm springform pan with cooking spray or brush with softened butter.

Then cover the bottom and the sides of the pan with parchment. If allowed, instead, flour it.

Extra tip: if you use a regular cake pan, use precut circle cake pan liners (better than a circle of parchment paper) at the bottom of the pan to facilitate unmolding.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat and let cool to room temperature. Or melt the butter in the microwave.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg with sugar and salt with a balloon whisk for 1 to 2 minutes (photo 1).

Add the bitter almond extract and almond flour and mix until homogeneous. Add the cooled melted butter and gently mix again (photo 2).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan (photo 3) and bake in the center of the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Using the oven mitts, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the surface of the cake with flaked almonds. Then bake again for 15-20 minutes (photo 4).

Check the cake's doneness: if the blade of a knife or a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out almost clean, the cake is ready.

Leave to cool in the mold to room temperature, then unmold. Let it cool completely ona wire rack andsprinkle with powdered sugar.

Recipe variations

The l'Amandier cake recipe is a traditional French recipe that calls for a few simple ingredients.

Though its flavor profile might seem sufficient, this classic and delicious cake has several variations.

For a hint of lemon, add a teaspoon of lemon extract, lemon juice, orange flower water, or dark rum to the batter.

Also, make a lemon glaze to top the cake or simply sprinkle it with orange or lemon zest.

Or spice up your cake with a pinch of ground cinnamon, ginger, or coriander powder.

You can also personalize this moist almond cake by adding candied fruit or chocolate chips to make it more special.

French chef Christophe Michalak replaces 40% of butter with mascarpone cheese and uses salt butter instead of unsalted.

How would you like that on your cake? So feel free to try the chef's version.

But how to make a flourless chocolate cake, you will need something that is not just cocoa powder.

The French use dark chocolate in their chocolate and almond cake recipe, which gives it a different flavor and taste. Covered with chocolate ganache, it is heavenly delicious.

Equipment

This cake requires a minimum of baking equipment. You will need a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl to melt the butter.

Forget a hand-held mixer or stand mixer; a large bowl with a hand whisk is enough to make the cake batter. And it really seems like a one-bowl recipe.

You will also need a metal or silicone cake pan (not ceramic or glass), better a special pan - a springform pan - and a pastry brush to butter the tin.

What else? Prepare a wire rack and a dusting wand to decorate the cake.

Storage instructions

The cake tastes even better the next day. Keep it under a cake stand dome in a cool place for two days.

You can also keep it in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, covering it with plastic film or in an airtight container.Then, take the cake out 30 minutes before serving.

To freeze, let the almond cake cool completely, then cover it with double plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Next, bring the cake to the freezer for up to 2 months.

To thaw, unwrap it and let it defrost on the countertop for 4-6 hours or in the fridge overnight.

Expert tips

1. If the cake seems too runny after 30-40 minutes of baking, increase the baking time to 45 minutes. Cover the top of the cake with aluminum foil and get the cake more "baked."
2. Use a 7-inch/18 cm leakproof springform pan to make this small French almond cake taller, or recalculate ingredients with a cake pan converter to keep the height of the cake.

FAQ

Love almond desserts? Try these next!

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.