Sbrisolona

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan or a tart pan with a removable bottom. Line with parchment and grease the parchment. (I may try it without parchment next time, as this cake has quite a bit of butter, and parchment might be irrelevant. But it's always nice to play it safe, isn't it?)
2. 2
   Reserve a handful of almonds, then finely crush -- but don't pulverize -- the remaining ones.
3. 3
   In a large bowl, mix together the nuts, flours, sugar, salt, zest, and anise seed.
4. 4
   Using your hands, mix in the butter and egg yolk until incorporated. The dough should be at the large clump stage -- not a uniformly smooth dough.
5. 5
   Lay the crumbs in the pan evenly. It should be craggy, so don't sweat it. Scatter reserved almonds and extra anise seed on top of cake.
6. 6
   Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes. If the middle of the cake hasn't reached the golden-brown stage, place the pan one rack up in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let cool completely and remove to a large serving platter -- it might get messy.
7. 7
   Alternatively, bake in three 6-inch cake pans for giving as gifts. I've also made this in five mini 4 x 4-inch paper baking pans/molds (the kind with the plastic snap-on lids). Reduce baking time and start checking cakes at 15 to 20 minutes. The cakes are done when they are golden brown on top.
8. 8
   When cool, dust cake with powdered sugar, if desired. The cake keeps well, wrapped in wax paper. I keep my leftovers in an unzipped ziploc bag.