Monday, January 14, 2013

Visitation Cakes

Today is the first Secret Recipe Club reveal of 2013.  This month I was assigned the blog Heavenly Treats and Treasures,  after searching through all of the recipes I kept going back to the visitation cakes as they looked so good and I definitely prefer cakes that aren't overly sweet and without lots of frosting.  I had never heard of visitation cakes before, but they originated in the convent of a community of French nuns called the Sisters of the Visitation.

I ended up having to make these with blackberries, because I spent 2 weeks searching for raspberries as the recipe calls for, but just couldn't find any.  These worked just fine with blackberries but I do think we would have preferred them with raspberries just because we like those better than blackberries. 




1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Zest of one lemon
Blackberries (or raspberries)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a mini muffin pan.

Put the butter in a medium saucepan and melt it over medium heat. Continue cooking the butter until it colors lightly. Set aside.

Put the almonds, icing sugar, and egg whites in the same saucepan and place over low heat, stirring constantly, until they are just warm, about 100 degrees.

Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the flour. Fold in the butter, extracts and lemon zest.

Fill the pan 3/4 full, top each cake with a fresh blackberry and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown.  Leave to cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

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10 comments:

Tracy said...

What an unusual name. They look great.

Miz Helen said...

Hi Sarah,
What beautiful little cakes and they look delicious. A great recipe for the SRC, and thanks for sharing.
Miz Helen

Mostly Food and Crafts said...

They look wonderful!

Rebekah said...

I have never heard of visitation cakes - they look so yummy! My husband adores blackberries - I bet he'd just love them.

shelley c. said...

I've never heard of visitation cakes, either, but they look delicious! I bet they'll be good when raspberries come back into season, too, but the blackberries are a great substitute. Awesome choice.

SeattleDee said...

Butter, almond flour, lemon zest... betcha' can't eat just one of these little treasures.

Unknown said...

These look so good. I'd never heard of them either but look awesome.

Grace said...

Hi Sarah! I'm glad you liked the visitation cakes. Great pics, and I bet the blackberry was fantastic - in fact, probably better than the raspberry! Grace

Chaya said...

I can see why you picked these. They look delicate and yummy.

Kirstin said...

sounds good. I'm a fellow SRC member, Group D