This was a blog post I started writing at the beginning of January but ended up being sidetracked by other commitments.  I remembered only today, a month later about this bake. So better late than never, I suppose! I’d forgotten about the blog post but not about this yummy cake.  So this what I had started to write a month ago!

Last Sunday I decided to try and use up a pot of cream that was unopened in our fridge from Christmas.  For some reason I’d bought more than we needed.  As we always have a pudding after our Sunday roast, it had to be something which involved double cream.  To me who adores anything full of cream, this was like heaven on earth!

I asked my hubby and children what they would like and they said they liked Victoria Sponge.  I love Victoria Sponges but I wanted to make something a bit different.  Inspiration came from my fabulous Clandestine Cake Club book, which to me was my favourite baking book of 2013.  I’m not just saying this as a CCC Member and former group organiser.  It genuinely, for me was the best baking book I had seen on the shelves in a long time and I still have lots on my list to try out in the coming months!  I chose to bake Carmela Hayes‘ Amaretto Cream Cake which not only features Amaretto liqueur but Amaretti biscuits.  As a cream and an almond lover, this just had to be done!

The Amaretto cake was made in a similar way to a Victoria Sponge with the four main ingredients- butter, sugar, self raising flour and eggs. Added to this were some crushed Amaretti biscuits.  I had bought a box of these a couple of months ago when I planned to make the cake and not got round to it.  Judging by my sweet tooth standards and my kids’ reputation for cleaning out the baking cupboard full of treats, I was gobsmacked the biscuits were still there in an unopened packet!

The mixture was soon made up in my KitchenAid mixer and placed into two sandwich tins.  They went into the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.  Trouble was as I was rushing round I forgot to set my timer going and also didn’t look at the clock to see what time the cakes went in.  I ended up having to guess.  I think the cakes were slightly overdone as they had come away from the tin at the edge.  Oh dear.

Once the cakes had cooled and had been removed from the tin, I spread the Amaretto cream on one of the layers and then sandwiched them together.  It was very tempting to stick my finger in the bowl of cream and have a sneaky taste.

In the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, Carmela’s gorgeous cake is pictured with a cocoa powder star on top. I did not have a cake stencil big enough for the top of my cake so I just got out my sieve.  It didn’t look very professional but it did taste lovely. To me, that is what really matters!