Greek rum and hazelnut cake
Ingredients
- CAKE
- 500g hazelnuts, toasted
- 100g ready-made vanilla cookies, crushed
- 15ml (1 tbsp) baking powder
- zest of 1 lemon
- 8 large eggs, separated
- 1ml (¼ tsp) cream of tartar
- 250g (1¼ cups) white sugar
- 135g butter, melted
- 100g mixed nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
- SYRUP
- 250g (1¼ cups) sugar
- 125ml (½ cup) water
- 100ml dark rum
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 30cm x 20cm cake tin.
Blend the nuts and cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add the baking powder and lemon zest and pulse briefly.
Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Continue beating while gradually adding 60ml (4 tbsp) sugar, until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are stiff.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture is thick and pale. Fold the nut mixture into the yolks, add the melted butter and stir thoroughly to combine. Gently fold this batter into the egg whites, using a spatula.
Spoon the cake batter into the tin. Sprinkle over the nuts and bake until set, about 40 minutes.
For the syrup, bring the sugar and water to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the rum, boil for a further 3 minutes and set aside.
Remove the cake from the oven and pour over the syrup. Allow to cool, cut and serve with a little extra syrup.
Notes
Instead of a cake tin you can use muffin trays. Bake muffins for about 30 minutes and serve with syrup.
