One of the things I love most about life is the pleasantly unexpected occurance. Many times, when I am humming along in life, something completely random happens and happily changes my way of thinking. I would be crazy to suggest that the negative side of that equation does not happen and probably far more than the positive. Perhaps that is why I get almost giddy when there is the happy surprise. So, with that "deep thought" lead in, I introduce the Daring Baker challenge this month as my most recent happy surprise. I am not sure what I was expecting but overwhelming love for this cake was not it. My work buddies loved it. My family and friends loved it. They requested I make it again...and this cake makes a lot of servings. Everything about it was delicious.Many thanks to Jason and the Daring Bakers for this month's challenge
Click on : Jason of Daily Candor to access his post to Daring Bakers for background information on the cake and some alternate recipes for the cake. The cake ingredients are very easy to find and alternatives,for me,were easily substituted. For the recipe below, I took elements from Jason's recipe suggestions and the recipe from heneedsfood.com. John garnished his beautifully with figs but I left mine plain to emphasize the massive topping that is meant to honor the craggy mountains of the area.
John of heneedsfood.com has very strict rules for sharing his information so I will direct you to his blog above and remark that I added a tablespoon of Grand Marnier to the cake batter. I also used a mixture of nuts for the topping, pecans, walnuts and almonds. As heneedsfood advises, this cake freezes beautifully. That is, if you have any left to freeze. I had to hoard a section of the cake just to test the theory.
This cake, pronounced huh-rap-choose-sa, does not have a lot of ingredients but the ones it uses are in large quantities. Fourteen eggs in one cake, 2 1/2 cups sugar for the topping alone and every single nut in my house went into making this recipe. From looking at Google earth pictures of the area, I would love to visit and taste a sample in a a cafe in Bol overlooking the water.
Recipe pictures in progress:
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| Cake Batter |
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| Lots of nuts |
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| Watch the topping so it does not stick and burn ton the bottom |
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| Baked cake |
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| Final baking |
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| Moist and yummy! |
Your cake looks fantastic! Thank you for the link to John's blog...it is amazing!
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