Team sloe gin with plums and make an autumnal layer cake with wow factor. It's sure to impress your friends, and best of all it's an easy recipe too
Ingreadient
- 200g butter, at room temperature
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 175g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 90g ground almonds
- 100ml buttermilk
- 4 tbsp flaked almonds
- 100g butter, softened
- 140g icing sugar, plus more for dusting
- 3-4 dark purple plums
- 150ml sloe gin
- 30g golden caster sugar
Direction
- Heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/gas 3½. Cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one by one, adding a tablespoon of flour after the first egg. Fold in the flour, baking powder and ground almonds followed by the buttermilk. Spoon the mixture into two buttered and lined 18 cm loose-based sponge tins and sprinkle the almonds over the surface of each tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are risen and golden, then cool on wire racks.
- Meanwhile, beat the butter for the filling until it's light and creamy and beat in the icing sugar to make a butter cream. Tip the plums into a pan with the sloe gin and sugar and cook them together until the plums just soften but hold their shape. Scoop out and cool the plums. Reduce the liquid to a syrup.
- Sandwich the cakes together with some of the syrup and the butter cream. Decorate with the plums, a few more almonds and a drizzle of the syrup.
