One of my aunts, Shanthi, reads my blog whenever she gets a chance and she encourages me so much. When she speaks to me over phone, she always tells me that I only show her pictures of what I do and I never give her anything to taste. So I decided to make her a special treat when there was a plan to visit her. Day before yesterday, when Sruti came from school, we planned to spend the weekend at my aunt’s place. And to take her, I was thinking of so many dishes. And one among them was this almond streusal cake which happens to be the challenge for this week’s Fondbite”s Bake Along challenge. At first I thought of skipping the challenge as there was enormous amount of butter in the recipe. Then when the thought of gifting came, I felt that this would be a perfect treat for my aunt.
Yesterday, I got up at 4am and started working on the cake. As usual I went for an eggless recipe. And as I was going to take the cake as a gift, there is no way I would slice it up for a photo shoot. So I made a small bundt cake with the batter and streusal mixture just for the sake of photo. The remaining batter and the streusal went into a larger 8″ round cake. My home was filled with the aroma of cinnamon while the cake was in oven. And for the glaze I used the leftover fondant icing I used for cinnamon rolls. I had it refrigerated and when brought to room temperature, it was slightly thick. So added a few drops of milk to bring it to the right consistency. Then I just photographed the cakes and took it to my aunt’s place which is nearly 90km from my home. She was so happy to see receive the cake. We sliced it up and tasted it. Both aunt and uncle liked it so much. And I was extremely happy for the final result. The streusal layer on top, which when served went to the bottom was so crunchy and the filling which went between layers of the cake batter turned out so soft and it actually merged with the cake batter to produce a soft moist cake. When we took a bite, the soft cake with the crunchy streusal with the mild cinnamon flavour was absolutely delicious. As the other members mentioned it felt like heaven on earth when you bite into the cake. It was sweetness overload and I am unable come upwith a good word to describe this cake. It was yummm!!!!!
Recipe Source: Fondbites
Makes an 8″ cake
Ingredients:
For The streusal:
Light Brown Sugar-3/4 cup
Granulated Sugar-1/4 cup
Cinnamon-1/2 tbs
Flour-1/4 cup
Salt-a pinch
Butter-1/4 cup, melted
Almonds-1/2 cups, chopped
For The Cake:
Butter-1/2 cup
Sugar-3/4 cup
Vanilla -1 tsp
Sour Cream-1 cup ( mix 1 cup of amul cream and 1 tsp of vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes)
Flour-1 1/4 cups
Baking Powder-1 tsp
Baking Soda-1/2 tsp
For The Glaze:
Icing Sugar-1/2 cup
Milk-1-2 tsp
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. To make the streusal, in a bowl mix together flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
3. Add melted butter and mix until crumbly.
4. Now add the almonds and mix the streusal and keep aside.
5. In another bowl, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla.
6. Add in the sour cream and mix well.
7. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda and add it to the butter cream mixture.
8. Using a whisk mix to form a thick batter.
9. Grease an 8″ round pan with butter.
10. Add 1/2 the batter and spread it evenly.
11. Top it with half the streusal and spread evenly.
12. Now add the remaining batter on top of streusal and spread.
13. Now add the remaining streusal and spread it evenly.
14. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. My streusal started browning fast and I had to add a foil tent for the last 10 minutes to prevent it from turning black.
15. Remove from oven and allow it to cool.
16. Flip it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
17. Now transfer the cake to a serving plate with the streusal at the base.
18. Mix together icing sugar and milk until it comes to pourable consistency. Add more milk if necessary.
19. Drizzle the glaze on top of the cake.
20. Allow it to set for 10 minutes.
21. Slice it up and serve..
Mix the streusal ingredients.
Add melted butter.
Add chopped almonds.
Mix and keep aside.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add sour cream.
Add flour mixture.
Whisk to form a thick batter.
I used my mini bundt pan to make one small cake. Add 1/2 tsp of batter to a mould and spread.
Top with a little streusal.
Add some more batter on top. I didn’t top it with streusal.
Take half the batter in a greased tin.
Top with streusal and repeat it once again. Bake.
Allow it to cool completely.
This is my mini bundt cake.
Prepare the glaze.
Drizzle it on the cake.
Once drizzled, allow it to set for 10 minutes.
I love dthis super cute mini bundt.
I also glazed the larger cake.
I sliced the mini cake just to know how it tasted.
It was fabulous!!!!
I tried this cake, it turned out fantastic. I replaced the sour cream with regular curd. This cake is now my favourite.
I’d love to try it out as all of us at home love almonds. But no one likes cinnamon in desserts…especially my husband. Can I avoid using cinnamon or its not worth trying without cinnamon?
Thanks!
Hi Cara, even my hubby hates cinnamon. You can sustitute it with cardamom or just leave it out..
Omg this is amazing … jus finished eating ..: the streusel layer is the best… yes it’s a bit more on the sweet side but ya it’s expected … I replaced sour cream with curd as mentioned in the 1st comment… the only thing is the bottom was a bit dense than the top part of the cake. Not sure how I would correct it … and I baked in a cooker with salt … thank you so much for these amazing recipes