When we see on the calendar that Passover is coming, we often turn to our traditional recipes.

Looking into my Passover box, I found these from Food & Wine online, which would be a nice change.

Almond Cake With Citrus Syrup

6 servings

This recipe came from Chef Peter Hoffman, owner of several restaurants in New York and pioneer of farm-to-table cooking.

Citrus syrup

• 2½ T. sugar
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• finely grated zest of ½ large lemon

Cake

• 1½ t. oil
• 1 T. matzo meal
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup ground almonds
• ¼ cup finely chopped blanched almonds
• finely grated zest of ½ large lemon
• 4 eggs

1. Combine sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest with 1/4 cup water.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer over moderately low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Oil a springform pan, bottom and sides, and line bottom with parchment paper. Oil the paper. Evenly coat bottom and sides with matzo meal. Refrigerate the pan.

3. With a wooden spoon in a large bowl, mix sugar, almonds, lemon zest and egg yolks.

4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir one-quarter into almond mixture. Gently fold in remaining egg whites in three additions.

5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake on lowest shelf of oven in preheated 325 degree F. oven for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted into the center comes out dry. Cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake, remove pan sides and invert cake onto  wire rack. Peel off parchment and let cake cool.

6. Reheat and strain syrup. Transfer cake to a plate and prick all over with a fork. Pour syrup over cake and let sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours or overnight. Sift confectioners’ sugar over cake. (optional)

Italian Almond Cake

• 2 T. matzo meal
• 2 cups whole blanched almonds
• ½ cup sugar
• 6 large eggs
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• ¾ t. almond extract
• 1 t. grated lemon zest
• confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment or wax paper and grease the paper. Evenly coat the bottom and sides with matzo meal.

2. In a food processor, pulse the almonds with 2 T. matzo meal and ¼ cup sugar until very finely ground. Beat egg yolks with brown sugar and ¼ cup white sugar in a bowl for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Gradually add ground almonds, vanilla and almond extracts and lemon zest.

3. In another bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Beat ¼ of whites into yolk mixture, then quickly fold in remaining whites. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the surface.

4. Bake cake in preheated 350 degree F. oven 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Run a knife around side of the cake, transfer to a rack and let cool. Remove side of pan and invert cake onto serving plate. Remove base of pan and peel off paper.

Sift confectioners’ sugar over cake and serve immediately.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem journalist, author, compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks and food writer for North American Jewish publications. She leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.