Fresh Cranberry & Orange Cake

Last weekend was my local coeliac group’s Christmas meal. It’s only the second time I’ve been but I’ve discovered any meeting is always a fun and festive affair. After a three course meal there is a short interlude where we listen to guest speakers and then it’s onto the wonderful English tradition of afternoon tea, which can mean only one thing – CAKE!

I’m very lucky in that my local group seem to be great food lovers (like myself) and whenever we all get together there is always a vast array of cakes, biscuits and buns all baked by fellow members for everyone to share around and enjoy. Not only is it a sugar rush experience of being able to eat everything on the table, but it’s a fantastic way of picking up some new recipes.

I kept changing my mind of what to bake for the occasion but in the end decided on a cranberry and orange cake. Fresh cranberries are finally available in the shops again – hurrah! – so I wanted to make the most of them. Cranberry and orange is a classic and very festive flavour combination so seemed ideal for the event.

I roughly blitzed the cranberries before stirring them through the cake mix as I wanted little speckles of cranberry studded throughout the cake rather than whole berries. This made it look very pretty when sliced, the cranberries all glossy and red like little gems. Topped with a drizzle of orange glaze and a ring of dried cranberries this makes for one simple yet very tasty cake.

There is no photo of a slice as I didn’t want to cut into the cake before I took it to share, but I’m pleased to say it went down well with the munchers. I actually made it dairy free as well as gluten free as I know some members have to avoid both and I wanted to ensure it would be safe for everyone to eat. I’ve come away with a delicious recipe for a super moist carrot drizzle cake, which I’m sure will be making an appearance on this blog at some point in the future.

Fresh Cranberry & Orange Cake

Ingredients
195g gluten free self raising flour
180g unsalted butter or dairy free margarine
180g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
75g fresh cranberries, blitzed into small chunks
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp ground ginger

Orange Glaze
100g royal icing sugar
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
A few dried cranberries to decorate

Method
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line the base of an 8inch/20cm springform tin.
Make sure the butter is very soft. Place the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger and eggs into a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
Add the orange and crushed cranberries and mix again to combine.
Spread into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.
Leave to cool for 20 minutes in tin before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the glaze, mix the icing sugar and orange juice together gradually until you have a smooth thick paste.
Spread on top of the cooled cake and decorate with a ring of dried cranberries.

Hotel Chocolat Luxury Advent Calendar & A Giveaway!

As the days are getting shorter, the leaves on the trees are turning from green to vibrant shades of red and gold, collecting in drifts by the roadside and crunching underfoot. There is a chill in the air and these are all signs that autumn if firmly here with winter and Christmas on the way.

Growing up, Christmas was always a magical time, full of excitement and anticipation. My siblings and I used to love waking up each morning in December and being allowed to open the door of our advent calendar and eat the little chocolate shape behind – chocolate at breakfast time! I stopped buying advent calendars when I went off to university, as that seemed to be the marker of leaving childhood behind, however I missed the tradition. So imagine my delight when Hotel Chocolat offered to send me their new Luxury Advent Calendar for Two.

Specifically design for adults, it’s a huge, double layer advent calendar with two chocolate truffles behind each door! How fantastic is that!!! All the excitement and fun of childhood, only much more indulgent! The idea is you get to eat one truffle yourself and share the second one with a loved one, friend, work colleague or even just eat the second one yourself as an after dinner treat – I won’t tell!

The truffles themselves come in a delicious variety of different flavours, cocoa percentages and fillings. There are the classics like chocolate truffle and salted caramel but also a few festive specials including mulled wine and gingerbread! I love the striking colours of silver and purple against the Hotel Chocolat classic black background, so sleek and stylish. (It’s also my Christmas tree colour scheme!)

Of course for the sake of quality control I had to open one or two of the doors, just to sample the chocolates, for… review purposes. What’s behind door number one?...Mulled Wine truffle!

The filling was thick and creamy, with a faint fruity booziness and a strong flavour of Christmas clove. It didn’t taste overly wine-like to me, although very fruity. On checking the ingredient list I could see no sign of wine, but there is Port listed, so I think this has been used to give a stronger, sweeter flavour which worked really well and I’m more than happy about.

I couldn’t resist opening another door…Salted Caramel! This one was gorgeous. The chocolate was slightly dark and bitter, a lovely contrast against the gooey runny salted caramel centre. Look how delicious soft and glossy it is!

I’ve managed to hold off opening any more doors until December itself, but I’m delighted to be able to offer one of you lucky readers the chance to win one of Hotel Chocolat’s Luxury Advent Calendars yourself! (They're gluten free btw) All you have to do is leave a comment telling me who you would share your advent calendar with and why and for a second chance to win, leave another comment telling me which gift from the Hotel Chocolat Christmas collection you would buy for a loved one. Open to UK residents only I’m afraid. Comments close Midnight on Sunday 6th November. Good luck!

Sweet Potato Cornbread (GF)

I’ve tried cornbreads in the past, but never been a particularly big fan of them. I have found them to be a bit gritty, dry and crumbly unless submerged in soups or stews. However, my opinions of cornbread changed when I saw, made and tasted this recipe. It’s based on a recipe I saw on Karina’s blog - Gluten Free Goddess. This blog has become my new go-to blog for any gluten free recipe inspiration I require. All her food looks amazing and the minute I saw this cornbread I instantly thought ‘I have to make this.’

This cornbread is a sort of cross between a cake and a bread. It’s both sweet and savoury and uses a combination of mashed sweet potato, brown sugar and spices to add extra depth and flavour. It’s made using half fine cornmeal and half buckwheat flour, whose nutty sweet flavour complemented the other ingredients beautifully.

Sweet potato may sound like an odd ingredient to use in bread, but it adds a wonderful sweetness and autumnal orange colour. It also ensures the cornbread stays beautifully moist, soft and springy – no more dry crumbly cornbread here! I was also impressed how light it was, not dense or heavy in the slightest.

I adored the flavour of this bread. I reduced the sugar content quite substantially as I intended using it in a savoury dish, meaning the natural sweetness from the sweet potato was the underlying flavour which complemented the spices with delicious result. As it was not too sweet, I found it went well with both sweet and savoury dishes from breakfast to dinner. It’s definitely going to become a regular on baking list. Gluten free or not, I encourage you all to give it a go.

P.S. Happy New Year to you all! Hope it’s a good one.

Sweet Potato Cornbread (GF)
(Recipe adapted from Gluten Free Goddess blog)

Ingredients
3 eggs
100ml vegetable oil
175g mashed sweet potato (250g raw)
55g light soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
120g fine cornmeal
120g buckwheat flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method
Start by making the sweet potato puree. Cut a large sweet potato into quarters, leaving the skin on. Place into a glass bowl and cover the base with 2cm of water. Cover the top in clingfilm and microwave for 7-8 minutes until soft.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before scooping out the softened flesh using a spoon. Mash with a fork until fairly smooth, but a few lumpy bits are fine. Weigh out 175g and set aside.
Grease an 8inch/20cm deep springform pan and line the base with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy, then slowly drizzle in the oil, still whisking. Add the sweet potato puree, sugar, vanilla, salt and spices and whisk well to combine.
Scatter the cornmeal, buckwheat flour, baking powder and soda over the surface and fold in gently using a spatula, turning the bowl as you go.
Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 40-45 minutes until springy and firm to the touch.
Allow the cornbread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before releasing and leaving to cool to room temperature or just warm before serving.
Makes 1 20cm/8inch cornbread

Tastes great on its own when freshly baked but also works well with both sweet and savoury dishes as it’s not too sweet. I’ve used it to accompany soups, bean stews or as stuffing as well as serving it for breakfast with yogurt and stewed fruit or warmed with Nutella. The sweet potato, sugar and spices complement each other beautifully.

I used some of this cornbread in a fruity stuffed acorn roasted squash that I had for my Christmas lunch. It’s another recipe inspired by Karina from the Gluten Free Goddess blog. I used a mix of fresh cranberries, apple, red onion and sage which I sautéed off first before combining it with the sweet potato cornbread crumbs to stuff inside an acorn squash. The squash was roasted for an hour first before adding the stuffing and roasted again for a further20minutes. Delicious! (Photo of the squash before the final roasting)

Roule au Chocolat avec Crème de Cassis (GF)

This divine, light as air chocolate roulade was the alternative choice to Christmas pudding that my family served after Christmas lunch. It’s an almost flourless, fatless chocolate sponge that is so light it’s almost mousse like. To enhance its deep rich chocolate flavour the sponge is drizzled in a fruity blackcurrant liqueur before being filled with lightly whipped cream and rolled into a roulade. Yum!

Have you ever noticed how saying things in French makes them sound so sophisticated and exciting? The above named Roule au Chocolat avec Crème de Cassis literally means Chocolate Roulade with Crème de Cassis (Blackcurrant Liqueur). Saying it in English still makes it sound delicious but it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. As the recipe was taken from The Roux Brothers Patisserie book (the father and uncle of the well known French restaurateur and Master Chef judge Michel Roux) I thought it deserved a French title.

We normally serve the roulade with berries and a fruity coulis but as it was Christmas, after rolling into a log, we used one of the end off cuts on top of the roulade to make it into more of a Yule Log and decorated it with holly and other assorted Christmassy things. This roulade is one of my mums signature desserts and one that my sister declares a ‘must have’ on Christmas day. It’s also completely flourless apart from two tiny teaspoons of cornflour, which is gluten free, meaning I could happily indulge with the rest of the family. If you are having a special occasion and in need of a show stopping dessert then look no further. It’s simple to make, yet people will think you have been slaving in the kitchen for hours!

Roule au Chocolat avec Crème de Cassis (GF)
(Recipe based on The Roux Brothers Patisserie)

Roulade
3 egg yolks
4 egg whites
50g cocoa powder
2 tsp cornflour
80g icing sugar
40g icing sugar (separate)

Cream Filling
30g icing sugar
250ml double cream
2 tbsp Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur)

Berries or coulis to serve (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a 10x12 inch/26/30cm tin with greaseproof paper.
Beat together the egg yolks and 80g icing sugar for 3-5 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and moussy enough to form ‘ribbons’ when the beaters are lifted out of the mixture.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until beginning to form soft peaks. Add the 40g icing sugar and beat for a further minute until the egg whites become stiff.
Use a large metal spoon to fold one-third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, folding it in gently while turning the bowl.
Sift over the cocoa powder and cornflour and fold until well incorporated and no streaks remain.
Gently fold in the remaining two-thirds of the egg whites. Do not over mix as you want as much air left trapped inside as possible.
Pour the chocolate mix into the prepared pan and smooth to the edges.
Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. When done it should feel springy when pressed gently in the centre.
Immediately place a layer of greaseproof paper over the top of the roulade and cover this with a damp – not wet – tea towel and leave to cool. (This keeps the sponge moist)

To Assemble
When the sponge is cool, remove the tea towel and greaseproof. Get a new sheet of greaseproof paper and dust with icing sugar. Invert the roulade out onto the paper and carefully peel off the base greaseproof layer.
Lightly whip the cream with the 30g icing sugar until just stiff enough to form peaks.
Brush the roulade with the Crème de Cassis and spread over the whipped cream, smoothing until nearly to the edges. Leave a small edge to allow for spreading when rolling.
Starting at the narrow edge, roll a 2cm strip into the sponge. Use the greaseproof paper base to help you roll up the remaining sponge into a roll, as tightly as you can. Don’t worry too much about any cracks – these add character.
When completed, use a large fish slice to transfer the roll onto a serving dish. Cut off the two ends, at a diagonal, so you can a clean finish.
If desired, use one of the cut off ends to place on top of the roll to form the knot of the log, if making a Yule Log.
Dust lightly with extra icing sugar and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Serve with berries and a fruit coulis if desired – but it’s so moist it really doesn’t need it!
Can be made 24hours in advance.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone! I just wanted to share my decorated gluten free Christmas cake with you. It’s a simple design of a marbled blue fondant background with blue and white snowflakes sprinkled with blue edible glitter to give it some sparkle. 

The choice of decoration was an easy one to make considering the huge amount of snow we have had over the past few days - 8inches! That probably doesn’t sound much to some of you, but I’ve never seen so much snow in my life! It certainly adds to the festive feeling though.

To decorate your baked Christmas cake you want to first level off the top with a serrated bread knife. I find I always tend to start off flat and end up going crooked halfway through. This year I thought up a solution – place your fruit cake in a shallow dish that has sides that reach just below the top of your cake. Then simply slice off the top, using the rim of the bowl as a guide and you end up with a nicely flat top on which to decorate. Don't throw the off cuts away, they are the cooks perk and will give you a hint as to the flavour of your cake.

Brush the top of the cake with Brandy and lay on a thick disc of marzipan. Colour some fondant icing the colour of your choice (or leave white) and roll out into a large circle, about 3inches/7.5cm wider in diameter than the base of your cake. This ensures it will cover the sides as well. Brush the cake all over with a little Brandy and then drape over the fondant, smooth down the sides, and trim off any excess using a sharp knife. All that’s left is to decorate to your hearts content.

Tying a bow round the finished cake not only looks pretty but also hides any small tears or creases you may have at the base of the icing.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope it’s full of lots of food and festive fun.

Daring Bakers Challenge December 2010: Stollen Wreath

December is always a great month for the Daring Bakers challenges. I look forward to seeing what new seasonal treat we are presented with and past years have never failed to disappoint. This year was no exception – Stollen – a much loved German fruit bread, that is traditionally log shaped and filled with a centre core of marzipan. For this challenge we were also required to bake the Stollen in the shape of a wreath for a festive take on this classic.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration. As it’s the festive period we have been given a range of days we are allowed to post on – so I’m not breaking any rules by posting early this month!

Stollen is not something I consider a ‘must have’ at Christmas time, although it does often make an appearance in our household over the Christmas period. The thing I love most about Stollen is the sweet sticky centre of marzipan that runs though the middle. This particular recipe didn’t call for any marzipan, but I soon rectified this by adding a snake-like length of it to the centre of my wreath, as to me, the marzipan centre is what makes Stollen great.

This recipe involved quite a bit more work than I first anticipated. It requires a fruited and yeasted dough to be made a day ahead, before it is rolled out, rolled into a scroll, made into a wreath, slashed and baked. Although not complicated, all the little stages were quite time consuming but it was a fun way to spend a few hours.

This recipe makes a lot of dough and you end up with a huge thick wreath. Rolling the dough out flat was one of the biggest challenges, I don’t think I have ever attempted to roll out so much dough before, it really got the arm muscles working!

I made my Stollen gluten free by using a mixed gluten free flour blend from M&S. I used slightly less flour than the recipe stated as I am learning from experience that gluten free flours tend to absorb more moisture during baking than wheat flour and so I was careful not to add too much. I also replaced the candied peel with dried apricots as I couldn’t find a brand which didn’t list wheat as an ingredient. The resulting dough was very sticky but extremely attractive to look at, speckled with the purples, reds and oranges of the dried fruits. It also smelt delicious with the mingling of citrus zests, rum and spices.

I rolled the dough out in-between two layers of clingfilm which helped prevent it from sticking to the work surface and made rolling it into a log shape easier. Once assembled and baked I couldn’t wait to sample it. My first slice was still warm from the oven and it was light, soft and tender. The fruits were sweet and chewy and the marzipan soft and gooey. Delicious.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid to say that I had some later on in the evening and found that the Stollen had become quite dense and heavy. I gave it a quick burst in the microwave, which did help revive it. However, the following day it was also inedible. It had become very dry and dense, so much so that it was hard to slice and not enjoyable to eat. Stollen is a naturally dense and dried bread than most baked goods, but this was almost like a house brick. I’m afraid to say that I threw most of it in the bin. This upsets me as I hate to waste food and hardly ever throw anything away, especially when it contained so many tasty ingredients but it really did turn out to be a bit of a failure.

Looking back on it now I think I would do a few things differently. I would use even less gluten free flour, as I’m sure they helped suck the moisture out over time. I would also see if less baking time helped and I would also add some xanthan gum to try and give the bread a better rise and open texture. As I used gluten free flour there was no gluten to help support the gas bubbles created by the yeast – which I suspect led to the bread being heavy and dense. Oh well, gluten free baking is still a learning curve to me. It looked impressive, I had fun making it and I did enjoy that first slice.

Stollen Wreath

Ingredients

60ml lukewarm water (43ºC)
2 packages (14g) active dry yeast
240ml milk
140g unsalted butter
760g plain flour (I used 700g of a gluten free plain flour mix containing rice, potato, maize, tapioca & buckwheat flours)
115g caster sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract or orange extract
135g mixed peel (I used 100g dried apricots instead)
170g firmly packed raisins
3 tbsp rum (or orange juice if you prefer)
12 red glacé cherries, roughly chopped
100g flaked almonds

Melted butter for coating the wreath
Icing sugar for dusting the wreath

The Day Before

Soak the raisins in a small bowl with the rum or orange juice and set aside.
Pour the warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast, stir to dissolve and leave to stand until bubbling for 5-10 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the milk and butter over a gentle heat until butter is melted. Leave to stand for 5 minutes until lukewarm.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add the lemon or orange and vanilla extracts.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests. Stir in the yeast mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk-butter mixture. Mix with the help of a spatula for about 2 minutes until it forms a soft, slightly sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Add in the mixed peel (I used chopped apricots), soaked raisins, cherries and almonds. Mix with your hands to incorporate, be gentle or the cherries will get very squished.

Sprinkle (gluten free) flour a work surface, turn out the dough and gently knead to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny. Knead for approximately 5 minutes (Gluten free dough will take less time as there is no gluten to develop). You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough as the dough will become tacky rather than sticky.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.
The dough becomes very firm in the fridge and rises slowly. The raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.

On Day of Baking

Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it to come back to room temperature, about 2 hours. Line a large square baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside.
Generously dust a work surface with (gluten free) flour and roll out the dough into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches and ¼ inch (5mm) thick. (My dough was still very sticky so I rolled it out between two sheets of clingfilm to make it easier).

(I also rolled out a long rope of marzipan at this point which I placed along the bottom edge and rolled the dough around, to encase it in the centre of the dough).

Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.

Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle.

Use kitchen scissors to make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting half way through the dough.

Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with clingfilm.

Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until puffy and risen. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Bake the Stollen

Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for a further 20-30 minutes. It should bake to a dark golden colour and sound slightly hollow when tapped.

Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a thick layer of icing sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter. Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first as you want it coated generously with the icing sugar.
Leave to cool for at least an hour before transferring to a plate and serving. It will take 3-4 hours to cool down completely.

When completely cool, wrap the stollen and plate in clingfilm. Or, leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly – for a dry outer crust German style.

Makes one (very) large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves

The Cake Slice December 2010: Fresh Cranberry Cake (GF)

Fresh cranberries instantly conjure up images of Christmas and snowy winter days, so I was delighted when this cake was voted as December’s cake. I was so excited at the prospect of using fresh cranberries. I love dried cranberries, but until I made this cake I had never tasted a fresh cranberry in any form! I know – shock horror! This is because in the UK we only have access to fresh cranberries for the few weeks either side of Christmas. They are not sold fresh or even frozen, at any other time of year. Because of this, I have never got organized enough to buy them in time before they disappeared. After having tasted them, I am so jealous of people in America who seem to have fresh or frozen cranberries available all year round – they are so zingy and fresh tasting and I adore their vibrant glossy colour, like shiny red jewels.

This cake is a vanilla cake which is studded with fresh cranberries and topped with an almond streusel that turns wonderfully golden and crunchy during baking, giving the cake a sort of almond Florentine crunchy topping that worked so well with the moist fluffy cake. The cranberries burst whilst in the oven creating little stained pools of ruby red juice dotted throughout the cake which made it look so appetizing.

The cake is also extremely moist, although I may have undercooked mine slightly. The recipe made a huge 10inch cake which was too big for me, so I cut the quantities by a third and baked it in an 8inch tin instead. I thought this might also mean less baking time, so I checked my cake early and gave it a little shake to see if it was cooked – big mistake – the middle wasn’t quite set with the result that the centre sank! I left it in the oven for the rest of its baking time but unfortunately the damage was done. However, this didn’t decrease from the deliciousness of this cake, so no real harm done.

I adored the flavour of the cranberries in this cake. They seemed to pop when you bit into one releasing their zingy, slightly tart juices. The sweetness of the cake and the golden crispy crunchy almond topping prevented the berries from being too sharp and made for one delicious cake. My family kept cutting off little slices just to ‘neaten’ the edges.

I am now a fresh cranberry convert and have bought an extra two bags which I have stashed away in the freezer to use at a later date. This cake was also really easy to convert to being gluten free and was so festive that I bet it would make a great alternative to the traditional Christmas fruit cake if dried fruit’s not your thing. Click here to see the other Cake Slice bakers cranberry cakes.

Fresh Cranberry Cake (GF)
(Recipe adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Streusel Topping
65g flaked almonds
20g unsalted butter, melted
20g light soft brown sugar

Cranberry Cake
160g plain flour (I used Doves GF flour blend)
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
300g caster sugar (I only used 225g)
100g butter, melted and cooled
¾ tsp vanilla extract
230g fresh cranberries

Method – Streusel

Heat the oven to 150C. Grease an 8inch round spring form pan.
Combine the butter, almonds and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Work the mixture between your fingers to form large crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Method – Cake
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high speed until the mixture is lightened and increased in volume, about 5 minutes.
With the mixer on low speed, add the butter in a slow stream. Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for another 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
Gently but thoroughly fold in the flour mixture, half a cup at a time. Then stir in the cranberries.
Scrape the butter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter. Bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1hour 10minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom onto the wire rack. Cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Makes one 8 inch round cake