This cake!

I love layer cakes, but it’s been hard to include a layer cake recipe on the blog since layer cakes are not Morocco’s most basic foods.

A few weeks ago I made amlou and ever since I couldn’t stop spreading and/or pouring it on everything ( e.g., my cereals, bread, toasts, etc.). This is when the idea of the century came to my mind: a layer cake filled with amlou! The idea of the cake itself made me so excited! Imagine plenty of party hats and dancing emoticons right here.

I decided to combine this cake with an almondy, honey-y and vanilla-y kind of moist genoise and of course, butter cream frosting.

The occasion?

It was my birthday last week and this cake was kind of a present to myself! Although I did spend too much time trying to get a neat frosting. I always get obsessed with the buttercream and spend too much time trying to get a smooth frosting, but it never really happens. I guess I need more practice.

Turning 29 is fine, somehow it felt like turning 18… People just take me more seriously now, well, most of the time.

Enjoy!

Almondy Honey And Vanilla Layer Cake with Amlou Filling

INGREDIENTS

Makes a layer 20 cm (8 inch) 3 layer cake

Cake

250g plain flour
200g ground almonds
120g caster sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Pinch salt
150g melted butter
150g honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs yolks
6 egg whites

Frosting

250g unsalted butter, softened
320g icing sugar, sifted
80g honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped

Filling

180g frosting (1 cup)
140g amlou (1cup)

Decoration (optional)

Sprinkles

MEHTOD

Cake

• Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).

• Grease 3 x 20 cm (8 inch) cake tins and line their bottoms with baking paper. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking soda, vanilla beans and salt.

• In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, honey, vanilla extract and egg yolks. Stir the ingredients until smooth, use a fork if desired. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix to combine making sure that all the dry ingredients are now wet.

• In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the egg whites until stiff. With a large metal spoon, gently and slowly insert the stiffed egg whites into the cake batter.

• Divide the cake mixture in three equal parts (you can use a scale for a more precise result) and spread each third into the greased cake tins and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Until the cake is golden and feels spongy to the fingertips and when inserted in the middle of the cake, a skewer comes out a clean.

• Wait until the cakes have cooled before inverting them onto a wire rack.

Frosting

• In a large bowl, use an electric whisk (or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), to slowly beat the butter and gradually add the sugar, then add the honey, vanilla beans and vanilla extract until smooth and fluffy.

Filling.

• In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1 cup amlou and 1 cup frosting until smooth.

Assembly

• Once the cakes have fully cooled down, you can start assembling. Spread half of the amlou filling onto one of the cakes, (transferring the filling onto a piping bag will help with this process). Stack up another cake on top of the first one and spread the rest of the filing onto the second layer. Stack up the third cake on top of the second one and spread the rest of the frosting over the whole cake. Decorate with sprinkles if desired, serve at room temperature.