Belinda Jeffery : Caramel Butter-Crunch Cake

(pic: pinterest)

Ingredients :

250 ml sour cream
125 ml plain yoghurt
1 and half teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
75 gr roasted walnut or pecans
385 gr caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups or 450 gr plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and half teaspoons of salt
3 eggs
250 gr unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon overproof (dark) rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Icing sugar, for dusting
Double thick cream, to serve

How To Make :

1. Preheat your oven to 180 Celcius degrees. Butter and flour a medium-sized (8-10 cups) kugelhopf tin and set aside.

2. Scoop the sour cream and yoghurt into a bowl and thoroughly mix them together. Stir in bicarbonate of soda, the leave to stand for about 15 minutes; the mixture aerates and puffs up when you do this.

3. Put the nuts, 110 gr of the sugar and the cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until the nuts finely chopped. Pour this mixture into a small bowl. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in the processor and whiz them to combine. Tip them into another bowl.



4. Put the eggs and the remaining 275 gr sugar into the processor and whiz them for 1 minute. Add the butter and process everything for another minute. (The mixture may look a bit curled at this stage, but don't worry it will be fine)

5. Stir the rum and vanilla extract into the sour cream mixture; this will cause it to deflate somewhat. Add this to the mixture in the processor and blend it all together with a few quick bursts. Scrape this into a large bowl and stir in the flour mixture until the batter is just combined. (Or you can add the flour straight to the mixture in the processor, if it's big enough to hold everything)


6. Spoon a 2 cm layer of cake batter into the bottom of the prepared tin and smooth out the surface. Sprinkle about one-third of the mixture over the top and shake the tin gently to even it out. Sprinkle the rest of the nut mixture over this, even it out again, then spread the remaining cake batter on top.

7. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Gently loosen around the sides and central hole. Invert the cake onto the rack and leave it to col completely.

8. Just before serving, transfer the cake to a cake stand or plate and dust it with icing sugar. Serve each slide with a big dollop of cream. Keep for up to 3 days at room temperature in a tightly sealed container, or freeze for up to 3 weeks. Leftover slices are also good gently warmed in microwave.

*Serves 10-12