My friend Claire is back in ATL for the year!! Besides updating our old blog “la chanson du soleil” and other best-friendsy things, this means amping up the baking big-time. If there’s one person who appreciates big-fat-dinner-parties and fancy aprons, it’s Claire.

Which is why my friend and co-worker Blake hit the nail on the head in suggesting we bake her something to welcome her home! And this cake was perfection. I’m always about JoyTheBaker but on this particular day, I was in desperate need of a little sugar. I don’t even know if it was the taste of the cake or the fact that I was having a rough day and needed something warm that paired well with a nightcap (And by that I mean glass of milk).

The almond twist here is adding a bit of almond extract instead of the full amount of vanilla extract which made it a little fancier tasting if you ask me. Almond tastes so sophisticated in desserts for some reason, right? I think it comes from the word marzipan. Don’t you imagine some exotic prince fanned by banana leaves eating some exotic and fancy almond pasty dessert called MAHHHZAPANNN? Well, I do.

We are still in the years of the toaster oven, which is why I couldn’t really bake this in a skillet. Used a 9 inch cake pan and as you can see here, it came out in the first flip!!!

When I delivered this to her in the oh-so-elegant Mall parking lot, half eaten by my family and other friends mind you, we instantly became addicted to the praline. It’s dangerous. I’m serious.