Amaretto & Chocolate Bundt Cake

Chocolate and vanilla marble bundt cake used to be a staple in my grandma’s kitchen. After finally getting a bundt tin myself, I decided to spice up the recipe with a chocolate ganache, flaked almonds and – most importantly – some amaretto liqueur. I feel the liqueur gives it more depth and also adds to its texture, making it a rich, moist cake.

Ingredients:

• 250 g unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for greasing the tin)
• 200 g caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp amaretto liqueur
• 250 g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 35 g cocoa powder
• 50 g flaked almonds
• chocolate ganache (link to follow)

Method:

Grease and flour a large bundt tin (approx. 2 litres in size). If like me you have opted for one with lots of grooves because it was just too pretty, this will be the annoying time-consuming bit. Following this, preheat the oven to 170°C (fan).

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes on medium-high in a stand mixer). Turn it down to low-medium, add one egg at a time, mixing well after each addition. If it looks like it might curdle, add a tablespoon of the flour and let it mix in. Once you are done adding the eggs, add the vanilla extract and amaretto liqueur.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the egg mixture and fold it in until just combined.

Move a little less than half the batter over into another bowl. Add the cocoa powder to the original mixing bowl and mix through (again making sure not to overwork the mixture). 

Dollop half of the vanilla batter into the prepared bundt tin, then all of the chocolate batter, finishing with the rest of the vanilla batter. Use a small palette knife or cocktail stick to make a slight pattern by moving it through the dough once in a squiggly line.

Bake for 40 minutes then check if a skewer comes out clean.

Let it rest for about 15 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack.

Wait until the cake has cooled completely to prepare the ganache. Pour over the chocolate ganache and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.