PLUM AND GIN LAYER CAKE

Ingredients:
Butter - 200 gms
Castor sugar - 200 gms
Flour - 175 gms
Eggs - 4
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Ground almonds - 90 gms
Buttermilk - 100 ml
Almond flakes - 4 tbsp

For Butter cream:
Butter - 100 gms
Icing sugar - 140 gms

For Plum and Gin syrup:
Dark Plums - 3-4
Gin - 100 ml
Grenadine syrup - 50 ml
Golden castor sugar - 30 gms


Method:

• Heat the oven to 170 C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy, then beat eggs one by one, adding 1 tbsp flour after the first egg.
• Fold in flour, baking powder and ground almonds followed by buttermilk.
• Spoon the mixture into two buttered and lined 18 cm loose based sponge tins and sprinkle flaked almonds over the top of the mixture.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cakes are risen and golden.
• Cool on wire racks.
• Meanwhile, for the buttercream, beat butter until its light and creamy and beat in icing sugar.
• Tip wedges of dark plums into a pan with gin, grenadine syrup and golden castor sugar and cook until the plums just soften but hold their shape.
• Scoop out and cool the plums.
• Reduce the liquid to a syrup.
• Sandwich the cakes together with some of the syrup and the butter cream.
• Decorate with the plums, a few more almonds and a drizzle of the syrup.