Caramelized Almond Coffee Cake

Last Monday I had a seminar at Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh. That was the first time I ever stepped into that hotel, all this while I just passed by it on my way to Ipoh. I didn't know about the room condition as the seminar was a half-a-day seminar, the package didn't require me to rent a room, but thank God it included the lunch!. (Government has cut the budget by introducing 'Belanja Berhemah' campaign hahahah) But I was given an opportunity to savor delicious lunch buffet that afternoon. In my personal opinion, it still can't compete the food at Ancasa Hotel, Pudu, but it was better than what average hotels have to offer. The lamb tandoori was really good, so was the sushi and chicken salad. But what had caught my eyes, (and my tounge as well of course) was the desserts. It didn't label the name but the bottom was butter cake, layered by creamy caramelized almond. I had two pieces of it, I'd like to have some more, but shyness had stopped me from doing the action. So I must say that I have to be satisfied with just two pieces. When I came home later that day, I searched in the internet on how to prepare the caramelized almond and I came across this recipe. I improvised the original recipe of the cake and came up with my version of coffee cake (the one I ate at the hotel was butter cake). It taste delicious except a lil too sweet, so I reduce the amount of sugar in the following recipe as the caramel is sweet as well. The recipe is enough for my family of four. For big family perhaps double the amount will just satisfy every family member.


CARAMELIZED ALMOND COFFEE CAKE

For the cake:
110 gm tepung gandum - ayak
80 gm gula castor
40 gm brown sugar
1 camt baking powder - ayak
secubit garam
2 camb nescafe'
90 gm butter - Aku pakai farmcows hari ni
2 biji telur gred C
1 camt ovellete
1 camt vanilla
115 ml cream


For the caramel:
Strips almond - secukupnya, pakai sliced almond pun ok jugak
60 gm brown sugar
2 camb butter
60 ml cream
1 camt vanilla

Cara-cara:

1. Cake: Pukul butter yang dicairkan bersama gula hingga kembang. Bila dah kembang masukkan telur. Pikul lagi sampai telur sebati then masukkan nescafe', vanilla, ovellete dan cream. Pukul lagi dengan menggunakan speed no 1 je.

2. Teruskan beat dengan speed no 1 dan dimasukkan tepung dan baking powder sikit demi sikit hingga habis. Off kan mixer bila adunan dah sebati.

3. Greasekan acuan, aku pakai acuan kecil je sebab resepi ni aku improvised untuk family yang kecil macam family aku. Bakar adunan kek di dalam oven (yang telah dipanaskan terlebih dahulu) pada suhu 180'C selama 30 minit atau sehingga kek masak.

4. Bila kek dah masak, keluarkan dari oven, sejukkan, dan ketepikan. Prepare pula caramelnya.

5. Caramel: Almond digoreng tanpa minyak hingga golden. Cairkan butter dalam periuk kecik dan masukkan gula perang dan vanilla. Masak hingga gula perang jadi caramel.

6. Bila gula dah jadi caramel, tutup api dan tuangkan cream. Kacau hingga brown sugar sebati dalam cream dan masukkan almond. Kacau rata-rata.

7. Tuangkan caramel ke atas kek. Tunggu hingga caramel sedikit keras baru dipotong. Elok disimpan di dalam peti ais.

Almond tu boleh juga diganti dengan macadamia nuts, walnuts, atau apa-apa jenis nuts lagi. memang sedap sebagai desserts!