(From Joanne Fluke’s “Carrot Cake Murder.”)

½ cup salted butter, melted

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2/3 cup cream or Half and Half)

1-1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Grease  a 4-inch by 8-inch loaf pan.

Cut a strip of parchment paper’ 8 inches wide and 16 inches long. Lay it in the pan so that the bottom is covered and the strip sticks out in little “ears” on the long sides of the pan. (This makes for easy removal after your cake is baked.) This will leave the two short sides of the pan uncovered, but that’s okay. Press the paper down and spray it again with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

Clarify the butter:
Pour melted butter through a fine-mesh strainer.  After the melted butter has dripped through, throw away the milk solids left in the strainer. Set your clarified butter on the counter to cool.

Meanwhile, mix the sugar with the egg in an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the baking powder and the almond extract. Mix well.

Cup your hands around the bowl with the clarified butter. If you can hold it comfortably and it’s not so hot that it might cook the egg, add it to your bowl now and mix in. If it’s still too hot, wait until it’s cooler and then mix it in.

Add half of the cream and mix.

Add half of the flour and mix it in.

Add the rest of the cream, and mix.

Then add the rest of the flour, and mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan you’ve prepared and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake the cake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the loaf pan sit on a wire rack or a cold burner for 15 minutes. Then loosen the cake from the short sides of the pan (the non-papered sides) with a metal spatula or a knife.

Tip the cake out on a pretty platter, and remove the parchment paper. Let it cool and then dust the top with powdered sugar if you wish.

https://hannah-swensen-mystery.fandom.com/wiki/Scandinavian_Almond_Cake