WE’RE keeping it sweet and simple this week with this delicious Nantes cake.
Nantes may be in France but the recipe is actually from a new book we’re in love with, The Italian Baker by Melissa Forti (Quadrille £20, published on June 2).
It’s full of gorgeous recipes – you’ll want to try them all.
For the Nantes cake, the butter needs to be very soft to get the best results.
You’ll need
- 115g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 125g caster sugar
- 3 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 115g ground almonds
- 11/2 tsp baking powder
- 100ml light or dark rum
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 tbsp apricot jam
- 100g icing sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4/350F. Butter a 20cm/8-inch cake tin and dust with flour.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and, using a balloon whisk, work until creamy and fluffy.
Add the flour, ground almonds and baking powder and continue whisking.
Add half the rum and then the eggs. Whisk until fully incorporated.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Bake for about
40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the edges of the cake are golden.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out on to a baking sheet lined with parchment.
While the cake is cooling a little, warm the jam in a small bowl in the microwave for a few seconds. Strain through a sieve and brush over the still-warm cake, using a pastry brush.
Put the icing sugar and remaining rum into a bowl and stir until fully blended and resembling royal icing.
Pour over the cake. You can either let it drip down the sides or spread evenly over the surface.
Leave to set then place in fridge until ready to serve.
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