Icing For Apple and Almond Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Apple And Almond Cake (from FEAST) is a dairy and gluten free cake that usually has flaked or sliced almonds scattered over the top before baking and is then dusted with icing sugar before serving. If you wanted to put some icing on the cake then you would need to bake the cake without the flaked almond topping. It is possible to use a glace icing and you may want to make the icing with some lemon juice to ensure that it is not too sweet. But the cake is very moist so an icing will not set hard on the cake and we would suggest drizzling or pouring over the icing only a couple of hours before serving the cake. If you are using decorations, such as coloured sprinkles, then add these just before serving. Approximately 250g (2 1/2 cups) of icing (confectioner's sugar) mixed with 3-4 tablespoons of liquid should give enough icing to cover the top of the cake and have some dripping down the sides.

If you wanted a frosting then the cream cheese frosting from Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake would probably go quite well with the cake. You could use mascarpone instead of cream cheese if you wanted a slightly creamier frosting, but mix it gently and carefully as mascarpone can turn to butter if it is whipped too much. The cake should be stored in the fridge once it has this icing on it, so frost it just before serving for the first time.