Gateau Nantais

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After all the indulgences of Christmas and the New Year, I thought I'd make a simple cake. The addition of rum makes it a bit different, and as I brought a bottle back from France, this is a good way of using some of it.
 Doing some research about the origins of the rum, I found that in the 18th century it was very popular in Nantes, and came in on the trading ships from the Caribbean.
The cake is perfumed, dense, moist and has a hint of almond, and to enhance the rum flavour, the traditional white icing is usually made with rum instead of water.

 The cake:

Preheat oven 180C/gas 4             Grease and base line a 23cm cake tin

Beat 220g of room temperature butter with 250g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Gradually add 80g of sr flour, 200g ground almonds and 4 tbspn rum. Mix together thoroughly. One by one beat in 4 eggs.
Spoon the batter into the tin and bake for 30-40 mins till golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Icing:

3 tbspn icing sugar mixed with enough rum or water to make a soft but not too runny icing.
Pour over the cooled cake and smooth with a spatula.





As I said, it's a very simple cake, but the rum gives it its unique flavour. If you don't like rum and leave it out, I guess you'd get a routine almond flavoured sponge cake!


My French friend thinks it's best made the day before you want to use it, to let the flavours develop. We ate ours the same day, and it had plenty of flavour!



Comments

Suelle said…
Just what you need after Christmas - something simple, but well-flavoured!
6/1/15 6:33 am
Phil in the Kitchen said…
I love the flavour of rum in cakes even if I never (well, hardly ever) drink it. The Nantais is one of my favourite rum cakes and I haven't had any for far too long. Yours looks so good. I tend to use a rum syrup on the cake as well - I really do like the rum flavour in cakes - a lot.
6/1/15 3:33 pm
Snowy said…
Phil, my friend pricks the top of the cake before icing and sprinkles yet more rum on! Bit too much rum for me. Using a spray is a good idea - will suggest it to her😊
7/1/15 9:14 am
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