Almond Praline Cake

'This delicious cake has been made at Ballymaloe for many years.  It keeps very well, due to the large amount of nuts it contains and because the icing keeps the moisture in the cake.  It is ideal for a special tea party'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p65

Wow, this was amazing and I think, my favourite recipe so far from the book. It was also the most complicated, but well worth it.  I made it for a diamond wedding party, at which we were all asked to contribute a dessert. 60 years married, what an amazing achievement! Definitely warrants a special bake.  Not everything went to plan, but still my cake received plenty of compliments. Here goes with the recipe...

• 225g (8oz) butter, softened
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 225g (8oz) plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp almond praline (see below)
• 1 tbsp milk

For the praline

• 250g (9oz) caster sugar
• 250g (9oz) unskinned (unblanched) almonds

For the praline buttercream icing

• 125mls (4fl oz) water
• 350g (12oz) caster sugar
• 7 egg yolks*
• 350g (12oz) butter (preferably unsalted), softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp almond praline

• Two 20cm (8in) diameter sandwich tins

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM4.  Butter and flour the sides of the tins, and line each base with parchment paper.
2. To make the praline, place the sugar in a non-stick pan or medium saucepan with low sides, and scatter the nuts over.  Set over a low heat until the sugar turns a caramel colour.  Do not stir, but you may carefully 'swirl' the pan to allow the sugar to caramelise evenly.
3. When the caramel has turned a deep whisky colour, pour the mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and allow to cool.  When the praline is cool and hard, place in a food processor and whizz to a gritty powder.  Alternatively, place the praline in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin **.
4. To make the cake... Cream the butter in a large bowl or electric food mixture until soft.  Add the sugar, and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one by one, beating well between each addition.  Sift in the flour and baking powder, and stir in gradually.  Add 3 tbsp crushed praline and mix lightly, adding the milk to moisten.
5. Divide equally between the 2 tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes away clean.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, before turning onto a wire rack.
6. Meanwhile, make the buttercream icing.  In a low-sided medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Turn the heat up high, and let the syrup boil for 4-5 minutes, to the 'thread' stage, when the last few drops that fall from a metal spoon dipped into the syrup come off in one long, quite thick and syrupy thread ***.
7. While the syrup is boiling, beat the egg yolks for 1 minute with an electric hand-held beater or an electric food mixer, then very gradually add the hot syrup.  Continue beating until all the syrup is added and the mixture has cooled.  The consistency should be stiff, mousse-like and able to hold a figure of eight pattern made by the beater ****.
8. Place the softened butter in another bowl and beat well with a hand-held electric beater until very soft.  Continuing to beat, gradually add the mousse, a spoonfull at a time.  Then stir in the vanilla extract and 6 tbsp of the crushed praline.
9. To assemble, slice each cake in half horizontally.  Spread the inside of each sparingly with butter icing and sandwich together, stacking each layer above the other as evenly as possible.  Brush all over the cake to remove any crumbs *****.
10. Ice the top and sides with the remaining icing.  Sprinkle the remaining crushed praline all over, including the sides.

* As you'll see, this cake uses a lot of eggs - 4 whole and 7 yolks!  Luckily I got a big box from my old friend, Co-op bargain shelf!  I didn't have time to make anything with the spare whites, so I froze them. I put 2 at a time into small pots (the cube types you get for small portions of baby food). They froze really well, and I used some for my Red Velvet Cake... coming on the blog soon!

** This recipe made loads of praline, with plenty left over.  I've kept some in an airtight container, maybe to make another cake one day (although I have to admit to having a sneaky nibble now and again - the caramelised nuts are delicious!) Could make a nice party nibble :-)

*** Not sure what happened to my sugar syrup, but it just wouldn't get to the thread stage.  After boiling it for ages, I took the pan off the heat and the sugar immediately crystallised into a sticky ball.  I really didn't want to waste all that sugar, so just put in some tap water and boiled it again to dissolve the sugar.  There I left it, not attempting to get to the 'thread stage' again.  When I met Rachel, I asked her about this... she wasn't sure what had gone wrong.  However, on the same trip to Cheltenham I bought myself a sugar thermometer.  Looking forward to trying it out!

**** Another minor mishap here... I just couldn't get my mousse to the 'figure of eight' stage.  Maybe because the syrup hadn't thickened as it should.  So, the buttercream was thinner than it probably should have been.  Still, it tasted lovely, nobody knew the difference and I wasn't telling!

***** I don't think the cake rose as well as it should... again I'm not sure why but the cakes looked too thin to slice in half.  So, I left them whole and just sandwiched the 2.

This cake looked like a 'recipe for disaster' at a few stages.  However, I think it's a lesson in not giving up.  It was definitely worth persevering, and I'm looking forward to having another go.  By the way, the photo doesn't do it justice!