I am slightly ashamed to admit how long my gorgeous Bundt tin has been in storage, lying in anticipation of the perfect recipe to fill it.
As is usually the way with things that bring joy, the wait was well worth it! If you have ever made a Belinda Jeffery recipe you will know that no one guides you through the baking maze better than her.
We bake this, our version of her Caramel Butter Crunch Cake, at Beatrix as an homage to her and her words, and that Bundt tin.
INGREDIENTS
250g sour cream (=250mL)
125g plain yoghurt (=125mL)
5g bicarb soda (around 1.5 teaspoons)
75g toasted walnuts
385g caster sugar (1 ¾ cups)
2 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon
450g plain flour (3 cups)
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
150g egg (around 3) at room temperature
250g unsalted butter, at a squidgy consistency and cut into chunks
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
FOR THE GLAZE
200g soft icing sugar
100g sour cream
1 ½ tablespoons espresso, or a little instant coffee dissolved in hot water
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C and butter a ten cup Bundt tin with soft, melty butter, being sure to get in all the crevices.
In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream, yoghurt, and bicarb together and allow to stand for 15 minutes. The mix will get puffy.
Put the nuts, half a cup of the caster sugar (110g) and the cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped. Put this mix into a small bowl.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside.
Pop the eggs and the remaining sugar in the food processor bowl (no need to wash in between) and whizz them for one minute. Add the butter and whizz for another minute. Pay no mind if the mix looks curdled
Stir the vanilla into the sour cream mix – it will deflate a bit. Add this mix to the food processor.
Add the flour mix to the food processor and whizz until the mixture is just combined.
As the full mix may be too big for most food processors, add the flour with the egg mix in a large bowl by hand with a whisk.
Starting with a layer of one-third of the cake batter, spoon it into the buttered bundt tin and smooth out.
Scatter over one-third of the nut sugar.
Cover this with another layer of batter and then the remaining nut sugar.
Finally, spoon over the rest of the batter and smooth with a hot spoon.
Bake for around 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then gently turn out – if there are any problem areas, that skewer can help tease out the cake. Don’t freak out if there are any stuck bits, the glaze will mask it.
FOR THE GLAZE
Whisk together by hand, adjusting with extra sour cream to make an oozy, runny consistency.
Just before serving the cake, pour the glaze over the top, allowing it to find its way down the creases and crevices on the cake. This cake is beautiful served while still a smidge warm and can be glazed warm or room temperature.
