Card Cakes

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• ⅓ tsp salt
• Jordan almonds
• 1 tbsp breakfast cocoa
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ¼ tsp powdered cinnamon
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• shredded coconut

Method

Cream 115g softened butter with 200g icing sugar until pale and fluffy — this incorporates air and builds structure for a light, tender crumb. The friction between sugar crystals and fat creates the aeration butter-cream relies on; stop when the mixture ribbons off the beaters. Beat in the two eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully absorbed before adding the next. Egg acts as both binder and leavening agent here, trapping air that expands in the oven.

Fold the flour and salt into the creamed mixture in two additions using a spatula or metal spoon. Fold, don't beat — overworking develops gluten, which toughens the cake. The mixture should fall from the spatula in soft folds, not cling to it.

Divide the batter in half now, before spreading. For the plain half, press it evenly into a buttered 30 × 40cm baking tin (roughly the size of a classic sheet pan). The mixture will be sticky; wet hands help. Arrange blanched egg-shaped almond slivers in neat rows across the surface — this is a tea cake, and the visual presentation matters as much as the crumb. For the chocolate half, work the cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, and 40g caster sugar into the remaining batter until the colour is even, then spread it into a second prepared tin. Finish with a generous scatter of desiccated coconut pressed lightly into the surface so it adheres during baking.

Bake both sheets at 160°C until the surfaces are set and a skewer inserted into the thickest part comes out clean — roughly 20–25 minutes. The plain cake should be pale gold; the chocolate version will appear darker but should still spring back when pressed gently. Don't overbake; these are meant to be tender and slightly moist.

While still warm, cut the plain cake into playing-card shapes — hearts, spades, diamonds — using small metal cutters. The chocolate sheet can be cut into simple rectangles or squares. Let cool slightly in the tin before turning out. The almond garnish on the plain cakes and the coconut crust on the chocolate ones soften as the cake cools, locking in place.