“Someone told me that ‘we are what we eat ‘. Well in that case, I m terribly sweet!”…. Inspired
A reader (doesn’t that sound good!) asked me to try a layer cake with vanilla and butterscotch , and needless to say, I was intrigued. I do make layer cakes, but far and in-between. Being a hard core chocoholic myself and with most family and friends liking chocolate, usually these few cakes are chocolate cakes. So when there was an occasion to bake for, I jumped at the chance to try these flavors.
This cake has moist buttermilk layers filled with yummy butterscotch buttercream and a crunchy praline. Now lets be honest here.. this isn’t something that you can whip up in a jiffy. Takes a little time and some planning ahead but all the steps are quite simple. And the taste… so worth every second. And if you don’t want to make the whole cake, do try this buttermilk cake. Light and flavorful!
The cake is a recipe by Flo Braker !
This was made for a small gathering where I knew there were other desserts, so I baked it in a square pan and cut into tiny slices that were not more than 3-4 bites each, like the cake slices they serve in dessert buffets. This also gave me an excuse to not do anything fancy with the frosting , because I am dismal at it. I just took a vow to make more layer cakes and get better at frosting ! Or maybe i should work at my photography skills (or lack of!) first!
So anyways…
Butterscotch praline cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 200 grams or 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 160 ml or 2/3 cup buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 150 grams or 2/3 cup or around 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 250 grams or 1 1/4 sugar
- 3 eggs at room temperature
For the praline
- 1/4 cup almonds with or without skin
- 100 grams or 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
To make the cake
- Preheat your oven to 180 C . Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan and line the bottom with parchment cake.
- Sift together the flour , baking powder, baking soda and salt. Keep aside
- Mix the buttermilk and vanilla. Keep aside
- Beat butter until smooth and silky.
- Add the sugar little by little (couple of tablespoons at a time) while beating
- Beat until smooth and fluffy
- Add the eggs, one by one , and mix well each time. The batter may look curdled.
- We will now add the dry and wet ingredients in three and two additions, respectively. Scrape the bowl as needed. First add the 1/3rd of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated
- Mix in 1/2 of the butter milk-vanilla mixture
- Mix in 1/2 of the remaining dry mixture
- Mix in the rest of the buttermilk-vanilla mixture
- Mix in the last of the flour mixture.
- Pour the batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake at 180 C for 42-45 minutes. Toothpick inserted will be clean , the top will be browned, edges will come away and if you touch the top, it springs back. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert and cool completely.
To make the praline
- Line a tray with parchment /baking paper. Roast the almonds on stove top or in the oven at 200 c for 8-10 minutes until brown and have a nutty smell. Spread the almonds on the lined tray.
- Heat sugar and water in a sauce pan on high heat until sugar has melted .
- Continue heating on low undisturbed until it turns an amber colour
- Pour carefully over the almonds covering all of them. Let cool completely. Takes around 1/2 hour
- Break the praline into big pieces and pulse in your mixer/ blender. When you get a grainy consistency (takes only one or two pulses), your done.
- Praline is ready!
To make the buttercream
To assemble
- Get your cake , praline , sugar syrup (if using) and butterscotch buttercream ready.
- Chill your cake. Makes it easier . Trust me.
- Cut it horizontally into two slices.
- Take the top half (top facing down) and place on a cake board. I didn't have a square one, so I used a plate.Brush some simple syrup if you want .
- Add around a cup of the buttercream
- Spread until smooth and as even as possible. You could also pipe this on.
- Sprinkle the praline on top.
- Place the second half ( bottom of cake should be top). Brush with sugar syrup.
- Add another cup of buttercream and spread
- Spread some cream on the edges to keep the crumbs in ( crumb coat). Chill for 15 minutes in the freezer.
- If you are frosting the cake, you can now apply a second layer of buttercream and decorate as you wish. Since I wanted cake slices, I just made the top and sides as smooth as I could ( didn't do a great job as you can see!) and sliced away.
Notes
You can keep the plain cake or the iced cake in a closed container in the refrigerator for upto 5 days and the praline for a couple of weeks.
This cake tastes gorgeous. And this coming from someone who lives, eats and breathes chocolate. The praline goes so well with the butterscotch buttercream . And each bite is absolutely light. Glad I tried this combination!
Hi, how can i make cake flour? If your 1 cup of maida is 120 gms, then how much of maida should i replaced with corn flout?
Hi Laura… Remove 2 tablespoons of maida from the one cup and add 2 tablespoons corn flour. Approximately 105 grams maida and 15 grams corn flour
Hi.. what is cake flour? And can I substitute 200g of maida instead of cake flour
Cake flour results in a slightly more tender cake. You can use an equal quantity of maida instead.. no problem!
What’s the substitute of egg in this recipe ?
Hi Vidhi… You can use any eggless vanilla cake for the base. But I really don’t know how to make the butterscotch buttercream without egg whites as it’s a swiss meringue style cream and needs the whites ☺
Can u suggest any good icing site
Hi Susan , if you are looking for icing recipes, there are a few you can choose from right here ! If you want to look at techniques, I would suggest Youtube 🙂
How can I measure 2/3 cup, 3/4 cup
If you don’t have measuring cups, just use a cup that holds about 240 ml water. Fill the cup with the ingredient up to 2/3 , 3/4 levels etc.. just eyeball it !
I wanted to try this cake.. I need your help.. Can i use whole wheat instead of cake flour(maida).
Thank you in advacnce.
Hi Rachana… you will not be able to replace whole wheat here completely.. the texture will be totally different. If you do want to experiment ,you could substitute quarter or half of the maida with whole wheat flour to see if it works. Happy baking 🙂