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Sunday 17 March 2013

Is this my best cake ever?

It might be. In that it contains everything I love most in cakery, and I have to say I could probably eat the whole thing. I would be sick afterwards, but I'd probably still do it anyway, if I didn't have some shreds of self control left.


I'm calling it a 'Nutty Betty', just because it's mine to name and here's how to make it. Oh, and yes, it contains nuts.

You will need:

3 eggs, separated.
3 oz plain flour.
1 tsp baking powder
3 oz caster sugar
3 oz creamed coconut - the hard block stuff you get for Indian cooking.
2 oz hazel nuts

to decorate:

300ml double cream
sugar to taste
1 tsp Vanilla essence
more hazel nuts
Brandy - or other favorite liquor, Tia Maria or any nutty, coffee, caramel sort of one will do.



Method:

Grease a small ring mold well. You can use any cake tin you like but you may need to cook for a little longer if you use a loaf tin or similar. You can use two sandwich tins also, and spread the filling between them. Line your tin with baking parchment, but with a ring mold this can be hard so I just used plenty of butter and it came out fine.

Heat your oven to 220 degrees.

Place the nuts on a baking tin (not a flat cookie sheet or they roll off) and bake for 10/15 mins. Let them cool for a little, then wrap them in a tea towel and roll them between your hands, think of massaging them, to remove the skins.
Put some aside to decorate the cake, roll these in icing sugar to stop them from being bitter,  then either grind the rest in a coffee grinder or pound in a pestle and mortar until sandy looking, or as fine as you can manage.  They smell divine!

Lower the oven temperature to 160 - don't forget to do this!
 
Gently melt your coconut cream in a small non-stick pan over a low heat.
Sift the baking powder together with the flour. 
Separate your eggs, and whisk the whites well into stiff peaks. Sprinkle a little of the sugar over them and whisk until glossy, won't take long at this stage.
Pour the rest of the 3 oz of sugar onto the yolks and beat well until the mixture turns paler in colour.
Sift the flour over the yolk mixture and fold in with a metal spoon.
Pour in the melted cream coconut and fold in next.
Fold in the egg white and then the ground nuts.

Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. It's quite a light airy cake so shouldn't take long, especially if you bake it in two sandwich tins, when I'd only give it 15 mins before you check it.

Give it a moment or two to cool, then turn it out onto a wire rack. When it's a little cooler, pour over a few generous spoon fulls of liquor.


To decorate:

Whip your cream, adding in the vanilla and liquor to taste, and some sugar - it's up to you how sweet you like it. You can just spread it over the cake (wait until it's cool though!) with a knife and fork it up for a nice, rough finish, or you can pipe with a large rosette which is what I did. Decorate with the saved hazel nuts rolled in icing sugar, and Bob is indeed your mother's brother.

If you don't do dairy, omit the cream frosting and grease your tin with white vegetable fat instead. The ice the cake with glace icing flavored with liquor or coffee and decorate with the nuts as before. This also works well for a less rich version and so so tasty with a cup of coffee.

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