Thunder & lightning cake

Name: Thunder & lightning cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 120 g butter, softened, plus a little for greasing; 250 g caster sugar; 4 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Eggs, separated; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 3 tbsp milk; 120 g self-raising flour; 50 g flaked almonds; 1 tbsp demerara sugar; 250 g Cooks’ Ingredients Salted Caramel Icing; 227 g pot clotted cream; Homemade or Cooks’ Ingredients Dark Chocolate Curls (optional)

An elegant cake recipe with a difference from Orlando Murrin's debut novel – Knife Skills for Beginners – a ‘cosy crime’ story on a culinary theme

4 out of 5 stars(4) Rate this recipe

Vegetarian

Serves8
CourseDessert
Prepare20 mins
Cook30 mins
Total time50 mins
Pluscooling

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Ingredients

120g butter, softened, plus a little for greasing
250g caster sugar
4 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk
120g self-raising flour
50g flaked almonds
1 tbsp demerara sugar
250g Cooks’ Ingredients Salted Caramel Icing
227g pot clotted cream
Homemade or Cooks’ Ingredients Dark Chocolate Curls (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, gas mark 4. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins, then line the bases with baking parchment. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, 100g sugar and the egg yolks together in a large bowl until creamy
Beat in the vanilla extract, milk and flour until just mixed. Divide between the tins and spread thinly and evenly.
With clean beaters, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. Continue whisking, gradually adding the remaining 150g sugar, until thick and meringue-like, but still spreadable.
Spread evenly over each cake, then sprinkle with the almonds and demerara. (This will give the layers a nougatine topping.) Bake for 30 minutes, or until puffed and the nuts are browned. Cool in the tins for 20 minutes, then move to a cooling rack. The meringue will sink as it cools.
To assemble, put 1 layer, meringue-side up, on a serving plate. Spread delicately with the icing, then the clotted cream (don’t stir, or it will go runny). Top with the remaining layer and finish with the chocolate curls, if liked.