One of the new cookbooks I got for Christmas (um how is it June already?) was another of the fabulous books from The Hummingbird Bakery – Home Sweet Home.
This book is a great compilation of recipes, including some of their signature cupcakes, but a whole load more big cakes, cookies and pastries than in their book Cake Days.
The first thing that took my eye on flicking through the book was the Maple and Walnut Streusel Cake. I love the combination of Maple syrup and nuts in a cake, and I had no idea what streusel was, so it was going to be an enjoyable challenge! The results were fabulous, the cake was easy to make and simple to follow the recipe, as with most Hummingbird Recipes.
The recipe has already been blogged over here at The Good Life Cottage Company. The book looks so great you should probably just buy it on amazon anyway!
Pouring over the maple syrup when the cake came out the oven was definitely my favourite bit – I love watching it ooze and sink into the cake, just imagining how good that was going to taste later on! The crunch of the nuts gave it a lovely texture, if I was repeating the recipe i think i would add a few more nuts to up the texture a little more, or maybe add a few different ones to the mix like a few pecans as well.
And the learning point from this recipe – I have now learnt what streusel is; a crumb topping of butter, flour, sugar with nuts and flavouring optional/variable that is baked on top of and in the middle of cakes or pastries. So there you go!
Happy eating :)