Traditional European Christmas recipe: Toscakaka (caramel almond cake)

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 28cm x 6cm spring form tin and line the bottom with wax paper.

Toast the almonds for the topping in an oven tray until light golden brown, 5 – 7 minutes, and set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool. Keep the pan to use later.

For the cake, whip the eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a pot over medium-high heat until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Sieve one-third of the flour mixture over the egg bowl then gently fold in with a large metal spoon.

Drizzle half of the buttermilk over the top and fold in. Repeat with the next one-third of the flour, the remaining buttermilk and the remaining flour.

Drizzle half of the melted butter over the top, fold in, then repeat with the remaining half of the butter. Be gentle but thorough, scraping the bottom to make sure there are no flour pockets. Carefully transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Tap on the counter once to remove any big air bubbles. Bake until golden and set, 25 – 30 minutes.

When the cake has been baking for 15 minutes, start the topping. Place the toasted almonds, butter, sugar, milk and salt into the buttered saucepan, stirring as the butter melts. It should bubble and thicken slightly.

Turn the oven up to 200°C. Remove the cake to a rack and pour the topping over. Spread the almonds out in a layer. Place in the top of the oven and bake until the glaze is dark brown and bubbling, 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Slide a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen it.