The month of August sees the kick off of Cook Like a Star featuring the beautiful and talented Nigella Lawson and hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Anuja of Simple Baking. It is very easy to find recipes from Nigella as she seems to be one of the more popular celebrity star that we love to emulate. This recipe was randomly plucked by me from the internet and quite easy to put together although I can't say I like the texture that much as it is quite dense. I shall try one of her flourless recipes and see if I will like it better.
Maple Pecan Bundt Cake
by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients
Pecan filling:
75g plain flour
30g soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
150g pecans (or walnuts), roughly chopped(I used salted)
125ml maple syrup (I used honey)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
125g soft unsalted butter(I used salted)
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
250ml crème fraîche or sour cream(I used yoghurt)
1-2 teaspoons icing sugar, for decoration(omited)
Flavourless oil, for greasing
1 x 23cm bundt tin
Directions:
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Using flavourless oil (or a squirt of cooking spray) grease your bundt tin, and leave upside down on newspaper for the excess oil to drain out.(I brushed mine with vegetable shortening and sprinkle some flour over it and tap out the excess)
2 Make the filling for the cake by mixing together the 75g flour and 30g butter with a fork, till you end up with the sort of mixture you'd expect when making crumble topping. Then, still using the fork, mix in the cinnamon, chopped pecans (or walnuts) and maple syrup, to form a sticky, bumpy paste. Set aside for a moment.
3 For the cake, measure the 300g flour, the baking powder and bicarbonate soda into a bowl.
4 Now, cream the butter and sugar (i.e. beat well together until light in texture and pale in color), then beat in 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture, then 1 egg, then another tablespoonful of flour mixture followed by the second egg.
5 Add the rest of the flour mixture beating as you go, and then finally the crème fraîche or sour cream. You should expect to end up with a fairly firm cake batter.
6 Spoon just more than half the cake batter into the prepared bundt tin. Spread the mixture up the sides a little and around the funnel of the tin to create a rim. You don't want the sticky filling to leak out to the sides of the tin.
7 Dollop the maple filling carefully into the dent in the cake batter, then cover the filling with the remaining batter. Smooth the top and put the tin into the oven for 40 minutes, though it's best to check with a cake tester after 30 minutes.
8 Once cooked, and the cake tester comes out clean where it hits the sponge (obviously, any gooey filling will stick to the tester), let the cake cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes in its tin, then loosen the edges with a small spatula, including around the middle funnel bit, and turn the cake out onto the rack.
9 When the cake is cold, dust with icing sugar by pushing a teaspoonful or so through a tea strainer.
Make ahead note :
Can be baked up to 2 days ahead. Wrap tightly in clingfilm and store in airtight container. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.
Freeze note :
The cake can be frozen, tightly wrapped in double layer of clingfilm and a layer of foil, for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature and dust with icing sugar just before serving.
This post is linked to Cook Like A Star, organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Anuja of Simple Baking.
Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking. - See more at: http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/#sthash.85hbVKv3.dpuf
