Pain de Gênes (French Almond Cake)

Prepare the tin. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) for at least 20 minutes, with a shelf in the middle. Butter the tin thickly, line the base with baking paper, butter the paper too, then press the flaked almonds over the base and up the sides. These almonds toast against the hot tin as the cake bakes, so when it's turned out they form a crisp, golden crust.

Whisk almonds, sugar and eggs. Whisk the ground almonds, icing sugar, salt and two of the eggs on high speed for 3 minutes until smooth. Add the remaining eggs one at a time, whisking for 2 minutes after each addition, until the mixture is pale, thick and almost doubled in volume. Almost all the cake's lift comes from the air beaten into the eggs here, so this long whisking stage matters more than any raising agent. Stir in the almond flavouring.

Fold in cornflour and butter. Sift the cornflour and baking powder over the whisked mixture and fold in gently. Stir a spoonful of the batter into the warm melted butter to loosen it, then fold this back into the rest of the batter. Loosening the butter first stops it sinking in heavy streaks through the light, airy mixture.

Bake and cool the cake. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden, springy to the touch and just shrinking away from the sides of the tin; a skewer pushed into the centre should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a rack, almond side up, to cool completely. The cake is moist and dense rather than light, and keeps well for up to 4 days wrapped tightly.