Caramel Butter-Crunch Bundt Cake

Caramel Butter-Crunch Bundt Cake

A friend posted this recipe on Facebook a year or so ago and I was immediately drawn to its name: who doesn't love caramel, not to mention butter, and to top it all off with butter? Well, I was sold. Sure enough, this was my birthday cake last year and it was seriously delicious. I rarely have dark rum in the house and it is still stupidly scrummy, especially if one uses real vanilla. The only other change I made was to add a cream cheese and lemon glaze but that is entirely optional. 

Ingredients:
250g sour cream

125ml plain yoghurt

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

75g roasted walnuts or hazelnuts

385g sugar

2 tsp cinnamon powder

450g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

250g unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into chunks

1 tbsp dark rum

2 tsp vanilla extract

icing sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and flour a 10 cup size bundt pan and set aside.

2. Scoop the sour cream and yoghurt into a bowl and thoroughly mix them together. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda, then leave to stand for about 15 minutes; the mixture aerates and puffs up when you do this.

3. Put the nuts, 110g of the sugar and the cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped. Pour this mixture into a small bowl. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in the processor and whiz them to combine. Tip them into another bowl.

4. Put the eggs and the remaining 275g of sugar into the processor and whiz them for one minute. add the butter and process everything for another minute.

5. Stir the rum and vanilla extract into the sour cream mixture; this will cause it to deflate somewhat. Add this to the mixture in the processor and blend it all together with a few quick bursts. Add and fold the flour mixture in a few spoonful at a time until it is just combined.

6. Spoon a 2 cm layer of cake batter into the bottom of the prepared bundt tin and smooth out the surface. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the nut mixture over the top and shake the tin gently to even it out. Cover this with another thin layer of batter. Sprinkle the rest of the nut mixture over this. even it out again, then spread the remaining cake batter on top.

7. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Gently loosen around the sides and central hole. Invert the cake onto the rack and leave it to cool completely.

8. Just before serving, transfer the cake to a cake stand or plate and dust it with icing sugar. You can freeze the cake for up to 3 weeks. 

Ultimate White Chocolate Cheesecake

Years ago I made a white chocolate cheesecake for some friends who loved it so much that it has become something of an urban-legend among our urban-family. Sadly I seem to have somehow lost the original recipe and I have been experimenting with various others for the past few months in the hope of rebottling the lightning. None of the recipes sampled were quite right until I found this fabulous number and adapted it to make it 'white chocolate' flavoured. It's seriously creamy and seriously moreish - the extra effort of baking in a water bath really makes all the difference.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g butter, melted
• 300g wheatmeal biscuits
• 500g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 200g white chocolate
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• few drops pure vanilla, or vanilla extract to taste
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Brush the base and sides of a 22cm x 6cm deep springform tin with a little of the melted butter. Remove the base from the tin.
Cut a round of baking paper to fit the base of the tin, brush the paper with a little butter and set aside.
Tear off an 80cm sheet of foil and double it over so it measures 40cm in length. Lay the foil over the base of the tin, then put the buttered round of paper on top. Sit the springform tin over the base and lock the sides into place, leaving excess foil outside the tin. Draw up the excess foil around the tin and fold the top out of the way. You now have a watertight container.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Add the remaining butter and process. Press the crumb mixture into the base of the tin (and up the sides if you wish), tapping firmly with the base of a glass tumbler or similar as you go.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the white chocolate and then beat in the cornflour, then add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating each time just until smooth. Add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Add the sour cream and beat briefly to combine. Be careful not to over-beat or the cake will deflate in the oven.

Pour the batter into the tin and stand the tin in a large baking dish. Pour boiling water into the dish to come halfway up the sides of the tin. Bake for 50 minutes, then turn off the oven but do not open the door for a further hour.
Lift the tin from the water bath and flatten the foil away from the sides just in case there is any water trapped inside. Cool completely in the tin on a wire rack and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.
This would be particularly delicious with a raspberry coulis...