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 a crunchy streusel topping and... crunchy surprise inside ;) It's a combination of different tastes too, the cake is a vanilla sponge, soaked with maple syrup, while streusel is cinnamon with chopped walnuts. All that works perfectly together. 

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 is a success. The only change I'm always making, is to reduce the amount of sugar used in the recipe. 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, the 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

Method:

- 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 half of the batter mix.

- Bake the cake for 50–60 minutes or until golden on top and when tested with a skewer it comes out clean of batter. 

- Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool slightly.

- While the cake is still warm, drizzle over the maple syrup. Allow the cake to cool completely 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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