For some Easter entertainment look no further than decorating this delicious macadamia swirl cake to your heart’s content! A sumptuously velvety indulgence, with the swirl of crunchy macadamias melting in cocoa and the caramel sweetness of brown sugar, it’s as delicious to eat as it is fun to make.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup macadamias
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 185 g unsalted butter
- 1½ cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 cups plain flour sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 cups sour cream
Icing
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2½ cups icing sugar sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Yellow food colouring
Decoration
- 50 g store bought white royal icing
- Your choice of food colouring
- 8-10 whole macadamia nuts
- 8-10 gold dragees
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ½ cup roasted macadamias finely chopped
- Edible flowers
Instructions
- For the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin. Combine the macadamias, brown sugar and cocoa in the bowl of a small food processor and pulse until the mixture is combined and the macadamias appear roughly chopped. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Combine the sifted flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir in alternatively with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Pour a third of the cake batter into the tin. Sprinkle evenly with one half of the macadamia mixture. Repeat, ending with a layer of cake batter. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the icing, beat the butter until pale. Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar and vanilla essence and a small drop of yellow food colouring. Spread over the cake to cover the top and sides completely.
- For the decoration, separate the royal icing into 4 small bowls and add a drop of different food colouring to each. Knead the icing to fully incorporate the colour. Mould a small pinch of icing around one side of each macadamia and roll gently to form an egg shape. Top each egg with a gold dragee. To decorate the cake, draw an egg shape on a large piece of baking paper (that will cover the top of the cake). Carefully cut it out so you have created an egg shape stencil. Lay it over the cake and sprinkle the shredded coconut and finely chopped macadamias decoratively within the stencil. Remove the stencil, arrange the eggs and edible flowers over the top and serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 896kcalCarbohydrates: 106gProtein: 9gFat: 51gSaturated Fat: 25gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 140mgSodium: 293mgPotassium: 245mgFiber: 4gSugar: 73gVitamin A: 1104IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 141mgIron: 3mg