Maple & Walnut Streusel Cake...

I'm a sucker for a good cake. I like cakes with different textures - soft, but something crunchy or creamy in them at the same time. This cake ticks all the boxes! It's soft, but has crunchy streusel topping and... crunchy surprise inside ;) It's a combination of different tastes too - cake is a vanilla sponge, soaked with maple syrup, while streusel is cinnamon with chopped walnuts. All that works perfectly together! Perfect with a cup of strong black coffee ^_^ Hope you'll make it - it's really worth it! Just make sure you'll read the recipe carefully all way through, before starting on making the cake.

This recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery book "Home Sweet Home". I already made good few cakes and cupcakes from their books and each and every time it was a success. The only change I'm always making is to reduce the amount of sugar. I do have a sweet tooth, but not that sweet! I did it this time round too - especially when I saw that there's a lot of sugar in the streusel and after baking cake is being drizzled generously with maple syrup.

How to make it...


Ingredients:
For the streusel: 
- 50 g soft light brown sugar
- 60 g plain flour
- 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 45 g unsalted butter, cubed
- 80 g walnuts, chopped, plus extra for decoration
For the sponge:
- 170 g unsalted butter, softened
- 250 g caster sugar (I used only 200 g)
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 280 g soured cream
- 420 g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 100 ml maple syrup to drizzle
For the glaze:
- 170 g icing sugar
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F), Gas mark 3, then grease the cake tin with butter and dust with flour.
To make the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together in a bowl. Add the butter and rub the mixture together using your fingertips until it forms a crumble. Add the chopped walnuts and stir through. Set aside.
In a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment or using a hand-held electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar for the sponge until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add the soured cream and mix well. In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter, and mix thoroughly at a medium speed until smooth and even. Sprinkle half the streusel mixture into the base of the prepared tin, and top with half of the cake batter. Sprinkle the remaining streusel mix on top of the batter and then top with the remaining batter.
Bake the cake for 50–60 minutes or until golden on top and when
tested with a skewer it comes out clean of batter. While the cake is still warm, drizzle over the maple syrup. Allow the cake to cool in the tin.
Next make the glaze. In a medium bowl, mix together the icing sugar and maple syrup with 2 tablespoons of water to form a smooth, runny glaze. Turn the cooled cake out onto a cooling rack, so that it is streusel-side up. Sit the rack over a deep baking tray and coat the top of the cake in the prepared maple glaze. It will run down the sides of the cake and any extra will collect in the baking tray and can then be re-used for a second layer if you wish. Sprinkle over some chopped walnuts. Once the glaze has begun to set, you can transfer the cake to a plate or cake card.


Smacznego!


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