Almond & Cream Bundt Cake

Well - if you want a really good basic cake recipe to use for birthday cakes / cakes for special occasions - or even just something plain and simple. I guess this has to be it. 

This cake has a fine but dense crumb and cuts beautifully. It would make a super cake for carving.

This is the second time I've made it - this time in our new heart shaped bundt / tube pan. I have not dusted it with icing sugar - nor glazed it. This way, you can see absolutely all the details and it's impossible to hide any flaws ! To be honest, the cake does not need it. It's delicious as is, but adding a glaze when warm and letting it seep really makes it truly something special

Ingredients

• some slivers of almonds
• 2.3/4 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup of corn flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 225g salted butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract
• 1 cup double cream, with a good squeeze of lemon to sour

Preheat oven to 150deg C.

Take your bundt / tube ring pan - (I used our new silicone heart bundt bakeware mould) and lightly butter the inside. Dust with flour and tap out any excess over the sink.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating in well. After each egg, beat in a tablespoon or so of sieved flour to prevent the mixture curdling.

Once half the remaining sieved flour has been added, add the cream and flavouring extract, followed by the rest of the flour until just combined but no flour remains visible.

I put some slivers of almonds in the base of each heart shape so that these would show on the top.

Bake at 150deg C for approx 80mins until a toothpick comes out clean. As you can see, the mix did not QUITE fill to the top of this silicone mould.

As the silicone is very flexible, it was no problem to roll down the top of the mould once the cake had cooled.

I inserted cocktail sticks into the cake at the same height every 3inches or so right round the outside. I could then use these as a guide to cut the top part of the cake off with a serrated knife..... taking care not to cut the centre piece in the middle.

This off-cut was enough to serve 6 people in it's own right - it's a pretty big cake !

This is what it looked like after I cut the domed top part off, using the cocktail sticks as a guide. Perfect way to get a level cake !

Invert on to a serving plate and it's done.

If you want to glaze, try making a paste with orange or lemon juice and some icing sugar. Pour on the top whilst still hot and allow it to soak in. If the cake has cooled, you can always heat the orange / lemon juice and icing sugar until liquid and pour over the top as a syrup.

Sarah-Jane Nash (cheating - I made this in August !) - October 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com