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Toffee cake with Hazelnut Praline


Ouch! its feels like a thousand years since i last pinned my thoughts in my blog... didnt realise that i hv not logged in for close to two weeks... was busy with visiting.. busy with orders and not forgetting the unplanned KL trip.. am not complaining.. really.. am enjoying my life right now... being busy keeps me going.. to be able to travel keeps me sane.. op


So we got home fm KL a few days ago.. was there for abt 4 days.. didnt even get to notify my Malaysian customers of my trip which made the whole trip a relaxing one (for me at least - hubby was his usual stressful self)... knew that the moment we got home.. i would hv to start packing our stuff.. true enough... i hv not stopped since... been throwing things... been donating things to the Salvation Army.. been busy selling some of our furniture that doesnt fit into the new home.. hubs has given me the green light to do some changes.. after close to 9yrs of living together.. he has agreed to get out of the simple colonial concept and go a little into country.. not like the "hardcore" country concept that i once loved n had.. but more on French country.. slowly but surely.. my dream of having a French country concept in my home will come to reality but first... lets just concentrate on packing hahaha - Vero.. this is all ur fault! hahaha

Anyway all is good... i still hv a few more orders to fulfill this week and come next week... my baking business will be temporary closed till i get my act together again in my new home.. huhu.. am praying hard that my new oven will fall head over heels in love with me and that we will get along just fine.. Insyallah :o)


Toffee cake with hazelnut praline will probably be the next permanent cake in our household.. u shud see how many times my son walked into our kitchen bef he cud finally have a slice lol.. he walked once into our kitchen when my cake was still in the oven... walked the second time when i whipped up a batch of toffee buttercream.. walked the third time right after I iced my cake.. walked for the fifth time when i was preparing my hazelnut praline and finally after 5 times of walking in and out of my kitchen... he got himself a slice of toffee cake lol.. he loves the toffee buttercream so much that i decided to create hazelnut toffee macs with toffee french buttercream just for him.. I also added a little praline in the center and voila... I got myself hazelnut toffee macs lol


Source: Carrie from The Patterned Plate

TOFFEE CAKE (serves 10-12 generously)
(by Fiona Cairns, from The Birthday Cake book)

280 g unsalted butter, really soft, diced, plus more for the tins
280 g self raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 eggs, lightly beaten
160 gm golden caster sugar
120 light muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 deg. Butter three 20cm sandwich tins and line the base.
Sift in the flour and baking powder, into the bowl of your food mixer, or a large
bowl. Add the eggs, butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat until well blended and smooth,
Watch the mix, as soon as it’s lump free and smooth, stop beating.
Spoon and level an equal amount of batter in each tin. Place in the oven for 15-20
minutes. The cake is ready when it’s well risen, golden and a skewer placed in the
middle comes out clean. Turn out of the tin after a few minutes, then leave on a
cooling rack to cool completely.

TOFFEE BUTTERCREAM
(by Fiona Cairns, from The Birthday Cake book)

240g unsalted butter, softened
60g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g icing sugar, sifted.

Put 80gm of the butter in a saucepan along with the muscovado sugar and syrup and
place on a low heat.Cook until it is a deep, amber colour.Remove from the heat and
add the cream and extract while continually stirring. Leave aside to cool until
it’s room temperature.

In a mixer, beat the remaining butter till it’s lovely and smooth. Whisk in the
icing sugar, until it’s ivory white and fluffy, at least for five minutes. Add the cooled
toffee and beat until it’s perfectly amalgamated.

Carrie says: "This buttercream was very soft after I put in the toffee. So I placed it in the
fridge for 10-15 minutes, enough for it to firm up a bit. I gave it a gentle mix and
proceeded to layer the cake.
This icing is quite sweet, and I found this quantity just on the right side of
decadent. Any more and it would be cloyingly sweet. I think I had about half a cup
to spare after the cake was iced."

Note: I didnt use the toffee buttercream recipe here but instead used swiss buttercream and added toffee sauce into it.. i also added simple sugar syrup on every layer of my cake so that my cake will stay moist..
Also I used a 7" pan instead of 8" to get a taller cake. I devided my batter into 4 layers instead of 3..

HAZELNUT PRALINE
(from Rose Berenbaum’s Cake Bible)
1 cup roasted hazelnuts (or any other roasted nut)
2/3 cups cane sugar (I used Demerara Sugar)
1/4 cup water

Lightly oil one baking sheet, and set aside. Conversely, you can use a non-stick
baking sheet, un-greased. In a medium heavy saucepan on medium heat, add the sugar
and water, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
Put aside the spoon, increase the heat to medium-high and allow to boil, undisturbed (but not unattended), until the sugar begins to caramelize. You can swill
your pan around to even out the browing, but never stir as it will crystallise.
If you have a candy thermometer, you’re aiming for 180°C . A slight smell of sugar
burning is a good indicator. Once 180°C is reached, immediately turn off the heat,
add the roasted hazelnuts to the saucepan, stirring quickly to combine and pour the
entire mixture onto the greased baking sheet.
Once hardened (about 20 minutes), break into smaller pieces and grind in your food
processor to a powder consistency. Store in sealed jars in the freezer. This makes
a fair amount of praline. Consider sprinkling it over ice creams, fruits and cream
based desserts such as parfaits, for an indulgent crackly sweet hit.


Hope u will enjoy the recipe that i hv just shared... let me know if u manage to bake this lovely cake.. hv a fruitful midweek peeps...


Bef i go.. i wud like to gv my thanks to everyone that ordered my bakes.. be it in sg or in Malaysia... Alhamdullilah.. to those that hv been emailing me regarding my mac/whoopie pie sheets... they are back on pre order again! ... so hurry up and order bef its too late HERE... cheerios!

21 comments:

Mel said...

Look so gorgeous this Toffee Cake! I bet it must be as delicious as it looks too! Am bookmarking it for a special ocassion! Thanks Rima!

Dewi said...

Salams Kak Rima,

Oh goshh..! This is TORTURE (sparta style) !!!! Can i hav a slice pls pls pls.... Hahaah.... I just sit n dream je la... Kak!!!! I wan to order ur macaron for mid october!! Heheheeh... Remember i smsed u D other day?? Heheheheh..... I really really really hope u da abis unpack n settled at ur new place by then. I will mantera kan ur oven so dia tak meragam n can make my macarons... Hahahaha...! :p

ninazsyafinaz said...

terliur!!! that all i can say

Rima said...

No worries Mel.. Am happy to share :)

PS| I had actually planned to bake it for my dear hubs upcoming bday but knew by then my baking pans wud probably be in one of the many boxes lol.. Sooo his bday came early this year haha

Rima said...

Insyallah Dewi n Ty.. I remember of cos .. If my new oven tak ngam.. I will hv to fix one more in my wet kitchen .. Pakai back the same brand huhu

aima said...

kak rima,
cake looks deliciosss....n de taste for sure....macaroon tu sebekas brp biji n brp harga?

Ummi said...

Assalam Rima cayang ooii...akak pun dah rasa lama jek x singgah kat dapur Rima..xpalah, lgpun tuannya asyik bz dan jalan2 jek eh...hehe. Waah dah pindah rumah baru ke, nnt share gambar dapur baru eh...mesti gah gitu...Harap Rima lebih seronok la kaann...muahhh!

ette seth said...

Hi rima,

It has been a while. I kinda miss your blogging. Huhu. Ok, this Toffee Cake recipe will be the latest addition in my list to bake.

And, sgt suka pd macs yg colorful itu. Inspiring!

Anonymous said...

Salam Rima...terubat rindu..wow the cake nmpak sgt delicious and of course the smell must be so good and yummy hingga Hairi ulang alik ke dapur je...ni buat knur lagi rindu nak baking..the other day knur beli OXO handheld beater tu,lepas lah kalu takat nak buat cupcake or cookies..hmmm.naik muscle tau tangan ni..haha..
French country..ku suka itu..sure sangat cantik:-)
Thank you Rima and take care dear..
KNur-TRG

Hesti HH. said...

Salam Kak Rima,

Amboooiiii...lama tak muncul, sekalinya datang dengan cake yang menggiurkan. Hmmm terbayang bayang wangi karamelnya kak...sudah pasti enak kalau Hairi sampai bolak balik begitu, hehe

Rima said...

Ninaz
Nanti if ur busy baking for others.. Boleh lah try n bake this cake.. Sodap!

Rima said...

Alma
Ty Ty.. There is 25pcs in a box.. Can u pls email me so that I can quote u my macs price.. Tks!

Rima said...

Insyallah KUmmi.. Alahhh nothing fancy pun dapur kita.. Cuma besar lagi.. Kira lagi besar dapur.. Lagi byk barang boleh sumbat hahaha

Rima said...

Eighty
I missed it too but time is not on my side... Add me on FB.. U will see more activities there..

Rima said...

KNur
Hope all is well with u n Lilly.. Harus lah ade some kinda mixer.. If not how to Lepas kan stress hahaha.. I think if I am in ur shoe.. Mau ku beli yg big one.. Mau ku bake hari hari cos bukan Nyer u can jln jln on daily basis.. Boring jugak kan..

Rima said...

Hesti
He's just like me.. Well usually he will eat 2 slices.. Lepas tu mintak yg lain hahaha.. If macs.. Dikasi satu kotak pun boleh habis.. Just like my hubs hehe

Bakericious said...

I love tall cake, this cake looks exactly like the cake I love :D

mona badri said...

cikgu rima,

susah ke nak buat cake nie.....?
sama susah macam nak buat macaron ke?
:)

Eetee said...

Hi Rima, been following yr blog in silence, but this time interested with yr toffee bc. You mentioned you did not make the toffee bc, but instead add toffee sauce to swiss bc....i wanna try that too (easier kan!), but how did you make this toffee sauce? share with me if you may....thx a lot dear..

Rima said...

Jess
I love it too.. small and tall... niceeee hehe

Mona
alahhh i no cikgu leh... its not that difficult... its delish.. thats for sure hehe

Estee
ty ty... the toffee sauce recipe was as stated here... i do the same steps and the only thing i didnt use was the icing sugar and also butter...

Mrs Hakim said...

kAK rIMA BOLEH KE SUBSTITUTE KAN LIGHT muscovado sugar tu dgn brown sugar biasa je...

About Me

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Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..