Almond-Amaretto Cake with Salted Dulce de Leche Frosting
Layers of almond cake with crunchy roasted almonds, amaretto-apricot jam, and silky smooth Russian-style salted dulce de leche buttercream.
- Updated on:
- Original post date: 07/25/2025
Testing This Almond Cake
Testing Status: COMPLETE
I started making this cake recipe because of a friend’s sweetheart wedding cake request. They were curious if I could make an almond-amaretto cake with salted caramel buttercream! Due to my partner’s allergies, I haven’t been baking with tree nuts often. However, we found out recently that he’s not allergic to almonds, which made this cake request perfectly timed for me!
Research
I started with some research on almond cakes. I wanted this cake to be layered, so the traditional Italian-style one-layer almond cake that’s very tender and light was something I had to sift through in the search. I referenced a few recipes, including Serious Eats and Butternut Bakery to get a sense of how bakers treat almond ingredients in cakes. I also read up on King Arthur’s Almond Flour 101 and Baking with Almond Flour guides. After studying up, I felt ready to tackle the recipe development, which started with my Vanilla Cake Recipe (which I’m still working on).
From the get-go, I decided on a few things:
- Cake flour: It’s finely ground and sifted multiple times, so I felt it would rise more easily, considering heavy ground almonds were to be mixed in the batter.
- Real almond: I don’t like almond extract — it’s one of the most artificial flavors you could choose to eat, in my opinion. Instead, I went for a small portion of almond flour, in addition to 240 mL almond milk to flavor the cake with a light, natural nuttiness.
- Dulce de leche frosting: Rather than literally ask people (including myself) to make homemade caramel or find the right type of caramel in a store, I thought it’d be much easier in a home kitchen to just use an entire can of dulce de leche, which has a butterscotch-like taste in this recipe.
- Amaretto everywhere: I put amaretto in the cake and the frosting on the first trial…
- Structure: Using cake flour, a low-gluten ingredient, and almond flour, a tricky gluten-free ingredient, I figured I needed some structure, so I opted for 5 eggs and double-acting baking powder, a sort-of independent leavening agent.
Test 1
With my initial notes in mind, I gave the cake a first go. The cake came out very soft, almost too soft, and I couldn’t taste any amaretto. The icing was delicious, although a little weird on the aftertaste because of the cream of tartar I added for acidity. The most important tasting note: There was no cohesiveness to the cake flavors, and the amaretto stood on its own in a bad way. So, I moved on to the second trial:
Test 2
On the second test, I thought I should add acidity through fruit — something really light like apricot, so you can still taste all the almond notes of the cake. Plus, I wanted to add a crunchy component, so I landed on crushed almonds. This time, I also altered the bake time on the cake to be longer, which didn’t really help much. When the finished product was revealed, I found the cake still too softly baked, the amaretto DELICIOUS when mixed with the apricot as a filling, and the almonds quite bland without being roasted. For the second trial, I also tested European-style butter in the dulce de leche buttercream, and it was way too stiff for my liking, although still effective and flavorsome.
Test 3
On the third trial, I was confident in the new recipe, the one I have published here. First, I roasted my almonds before crushing them. This made them taste saltier and nuttier without adding any other ingredients. I upped the amaretto in the apricot jam filling for an extra boozy bite between layers. Plus, I altered the baking temperature from 325°F to 330°F, which made a WORLD of difference in the texture.
As far as the frosting, I opted for the simplest ingredient list I could think of: salted butter and a can of dulce de leche, and I upped the butter content and switched back to American butter, and both steps helped make the frosting much lighter and fluffier.
I let a good 20 people have slices of the second trial cake, and several said it was the best cake they had ever eaten. Little did they know that I had MORE improvements in mind. The final cake is soft but stable, beautifully layered, and well-balanced in flavor and texture.
Recipe
Almond-Amaretto Cake with Salted Dulce de Leche Frosting
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Silicone spatula
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- 2 large mixing bowls
- 2 8-Inch cake pans or 3 6-inch cake pans
Ingredients
Almond Cake Layers
- 330 grams white granulated sugar 1½ cups + 2½ tablespoons
- 280 grams cake flour 2½ cups
- 70 grams almond flour ½ cup + 2 tablespoons
- 3 grams table salt ½ teaspoon
- 12 grams baking powder 2.5 teaspoons
- 226 grams unsalted butter 1 cup, ½-inch cubes at room-temperature
- 250 grams eggs 5 large
- 240 grams unsweetened almond milk 1 cup
Amaretto-Apricot Filling
- 180 grams apricot jam 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons
- 45 grams amaretto liqueur 3 tablespoons
Crunchy
- 60 grams roughly chopped roasted almonds ½ cup, Note #1
Salted Dulce de Leche Buttercream
- 388 grams salted American-style butter room-temperature (1¾ cups, Note #3)
- 380 grams dulce de leche I use one 380-gram can of Nestle
Instructions
Cake Method
- Position an oven rack at the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 330°F / 170°C. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans (or three 6-inch cake pans) or spray them with baking spray. You may use a round parchment liner in the pan, if desired.
- Fit a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the following ingredients to the stand mixer bowl: sugar, cake flour, almond flour, salt, and baking powder, and unsalted butter cubes. Mix on the lowest speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer, scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a silicone spatula. Continue the mixer on the medium-low speed (3 on a KitchenAid) for 2 minutes. The mixture will first look sandy, then start to clump like short crust, and finally come together like a soft cookie dough.
- Turn the mixer to just below medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid) and add one egg. Let the mixer go for 30 seconds or until the egg is completely mixed into the batter. Repeat for each egg.
- Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl. Turn the mixer to medium-low speed (3 on a KitchenAid) and slowly pour in the unsweetened almond milk. Pouring the almond milk should take about 90 seconds. Once the milk is all added, stop the mixer and scrape the bowl. Set the mixer to medium speed (5 on KitchenAid) and let it run for one minute. The batter should look aerated yet slightly “grainy.” It will also feel fluffy when mixed with a spatula.
- Using a digital kitchen scale for accuracy, split the batter evenly between the greased and floured cake pans. For two 8-inch pans, each should have about 695-705 grams of batter. For three 6-inch pans, each pan should hold around 470 grams. Use an offset spatula (or whatever you’ve got!) to smooth the top of the batter in the cake pans.
- Place the pans on the center (middle) oven rack. For 6-inch pans, set a timer for 45 minutes. For 8-inch pans, set a timer for 50 minutes. When finished, a toothpick should come out with crumbs when inserted in the middle. If there is still batter on the toothpick, bake for an additional 3-5 minutes and check again.
- Turn off the oven, and remove the cake pans from the oven. Let the cake layers rest in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Release the cake layers onto plastic wrap. Wrap the layers completely but not too tightly. Allow them to rest on the counter, in the refrigerator, or in the freezer until completely cooled.
Jam Filling Method
- In a small bowl, use a spoon to mix the apricot jam and amaretto liqueur until fully combined.
Frosting Method
- Add the room-temperature unsalted butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed (5 on KitchenAid) for 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Continue the mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes longer.
- Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl. The butter should be pale and starting to “fluff.” Add the dulce de leche. Beat the mixture just above medium speed (6 on KitchenAid) for 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the salt. Beat for an additional 3 minutes just above medium speed. Scrape the bowl. Beat for 1 minute just above medium speed.
- This recipe yields about 3 cups of Russian-style buttercream. Assemble the cake and use leftover frosting for decoration, if desired.
Summary of Assembly
- Cut room-temperature cake layers in half so you have 4 even layers.
- Layer the cake in the following order: cake, ½ cup buttercream, ¼ cup jam, sprinkle of almonds, cake, ½ cup buttercream, ¼ cup jam, sprinkle of almonds, cake, ½ cup buttercream, ¼ cup jam, sprinkle of almonds, cake. You will use all the jam, but you’ll still have about 1½ cup of frosting left. And you can dice up more almonds for decoration, if desired.
- Frost the exterior. You can crumb coat if desired, but I didn't when I made it. Place the cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- Garnish with more chopped roasted almonds or top with fresh stone fruit, like apricot or aprium (aka plumcot).
- Slice and enjoy with a glass of milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- To roast the almonds, place them on a sheet tray and bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F.
- If whipping by hand, you may need to use a wooden spoon to cream the butter with the dry ingredients.
- Compared to European-style butters, American-style butter contains less butterfat and a bit more water. Any generic brand or popular lower-cost American brand will do: Land O'Lakes, Challenge, Organic Valley, etc. The butter should contain 80% butterfat, unlike European, which contains 82% or more. You can use European butters in this recipe — the frosting will be stiffer but still smooth.
