Ingredients
- 1 quantity brioche dough
- For the topping
- 75g unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp honey
- 80g sugar
- 100g flaked almonds
- 1 tbsp cream
- 1 quantity Cheat's foolproof custard (see below)
- 1 rectangular tin approx 34cm x 20cm (lined with baking paper that extends past the ends as the topping may run down the sides and stick, making the cake difficult to extract).
- Cheat's custard filling
- 2½ cups milk
- 4 tbsp custard powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 leaves gold* gelatine
- 2 cups thickened cream
- *Gold refers to the gelatine strength.
Method
Make brioche and allow to double.
Combine first three ingredients of topping and bring to boil, stirring. Stir in almonds and cream and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Press dough into prepared tin and allow to rise by about 70 per cent.
Spoon topping gently over the top and bake for about 25 minutes until topping is a deep gold.
Remove to a rack and after a few minutes ease out of tin onto a rack. Cool completely, split and fill with a generous layer of custard filling. Settle top back in place.
Makes 10-12 serves
Cheat's custard filling
Heat two cups of the milk and the sugar to scalding point, stirring. Slake custard powder in a bowl with remaining half-cup of milk. Stir until quite smooth. Soak gelatine in bowl of cold water to soften. Stir a little hot milk into custard powder. Quickly tip the custard powder mix into the hot milk and whisk until it comes tothe boil. Simmer for two minutes. Push to one side.
Bring 3 tablespoons of water to the boil in small pot. Squeeze gelatine and drop into water. Swish to dissolve completely. Whisk into the hot custard.
Pour custard into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Leave to cool.
Whip cream to soft peaks.
To combine
Press custard through a sieve to loosen it. Fold in cream using a wire whisk. For best texture, once combined, press through sieve again.
