One of my aunts, Shanthi, reads my blog whenever she can and is always encouraging. Whenever we talk on the phone she teases that I only show her pictures of my baking and never let her taste anything. So when I planned a weekend visit, I decided to bring her a special treat. After school, Sruti and I agreed to spend the weekend at my aunt’s house, and I considered several recipes. I chose to make an almond streusel cake — it was also the challenge for this week’s Fondbites Bake Along. At first I hesitated because the recipe calls for a lot of butter, but the idea of gifting the cake convinced me it would be perfect for my aunt.
Yesterday I woke up at 4 a.m. and started baking. As usual I used an eggless batter. Because I planned to gift the cake, I didn’t want to slice the main cake for photos, so I made a small bundt cake from part of the batter and streusel just for pictures. The rest went into a larger 8″ round pan. While the cake baked, my house filled with the warm aroma of cinnamon. For the glaze I used leftover fondant icing from cinnamon rolls; it had been refrigerated, so after bringing it to room temperature I thinned it with a few drops of milk to reach a pourable consistency. After photographing the cakes, I drove nearly 90 km to my aunt’s home to deliver the gift. She was thrilled to receive it. We sliced and tasted the cake together — both aunt and uncle loved it, and I was delighted with the result.
The streusel layer, which ended up on the bottom when inverted, stayed pleasantly crunchy. The streusel filling that sank between the batter layers softened and merged with the cake, producing a moist, tender crumb. Each bite combined soft cake, crunchy streusel and a gentle cinnamon note — truly decadent and satisfying. Family members described the experience as heavenly; it was a delightful sweetness overload. I’m short on words, but it was absolutely delicious.
Recipe source: Fondbites
Makes an 8″ cake
Ingredients
For the streusel
Light brown sugar — 3/4 cup
Granulated sugar — 1/4 cup
Cinnamon — 1/2 tbsp
Flour — 1/4 cup
Salt — a pinch
Butter — 1/4 cup, melted
Almonds — 1/2 cup, chopped
For the cake
Butter — 1/2 cup
Sugar — 3/4 cup
Vanilla — 1 tsp
Sour cream — 1 cup (mix 1 cup of heavy cream with 1 tsp vinegar and set aside 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, as needed to reach a pourable consistency
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
2. To make the streusel, combine flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly.
4. Stir in the chopped almonds, then set the streusel aside.
5. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light.
6. Add the sour cream and mix well.
7. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, then fold into the butter-sour cream mixture.
8. Whisk briefly to form a thick batter.
9. Grease an 8″ round pan with butter.
10. Spread half the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
11. Sprinkle half the streusel over the batter and spread evenly.
12. Spread the remaining batter over the streusel.
13. Top with the remaining streusel and level the surface.
14. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the streusel browns too quickly, cover the cake with foil for the last 10 minutes.
15. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool briefly.
16. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and allow it to cool completely so the streusel ends up on the base.
17. Transfer the cooled cake to a serving plate with the streusel now at the bottom.
18. Mix the icing sugar and milk until the glaze is pourable; add more milk if needed.
19. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.
20. Let the glaze set for about 10 minutes.
21. Slice and serve.
Mix the streusel 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 a mini bundt pan to make a small cake. Add a small spoonful of batter and spread.
Top with a little streusel.
Add more batter on top.
Take half the batter in a greased tin.
Top with streusel and repeat the layers, then bake.
Allow the cake to cool completely.
This is my mini bundt cake.
Prepare the glaze.
Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let it set for 10 minutes.
I love this super cute mini bundt.
I also glazed the larger cake.
I sliced the mini cake to taste it — it was fabulous!