"AMARETTIETTO" CAKE

Anyone that has been following my recipes for a while will know that I love the taste of Amaretto and I'll find any way to shoehorn it into any recipe I can. This cake is a double pronged attack. Not only is the sponge laced with boozy Amaretto but the centre of the cake is also lined with Amaretti biscuits across the centre which go deliciously chewy during baking as well as being crumbled over the top of some very naughty cream cheese frosting to give a crunchy finish to my most naughtiest cake to date!

I always have some Amaretto lying around the house (it's a favourite tipple of ours!) but don't worry if you can't stretch to buying a fresh bottle. You will still get that almond flavor from the biscuits and the ground almonds. The Amaretto just gives it a bit of a kick that makes it a great addition for a party.

With the decadence and guiltiness of the cake I think you can't beat a bit of cream cheese frosting to really ramp up the naughtiness of it all. If you are not a fan you could dribble over a water icing or a butter cream instead. As long as it's sticky and thick enough to make sure those crumbled crunchy biscuits on the top stick in place slather the top of the cake with whatever floats your boat.

Getting some of the girls round for champers and a giggle, this is the cake for you:

"Amarettietto" Cake

For The Cake

250g Amaretti Biscuits

150g Plain Flour

160g Golden Caster Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

4 Tbsp Ground Almonds

160g Soft Unsalted Butter

3 Whole Medium Eggs

1 Tbsp Amaretto

For The Frosting

150g Slightly Softened Unsalted Butter

45g Golden Caster Sugar

300g Cream Cheese

1.  Start with the cake ingredients. Turn your oven on to 160 degrees (140 fan) and grease and line a 22cm cake tin. Place 150g of the Amaretto biscuits into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin until you have an array of different sized pieces ready for the cake centre. 
2. Take the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, almonds, butter, eggs and Amaretto and give everything a good old whisking until a smooth batter has formed. 
3. Pour half of the batter into the cake tin and then sprinkle over the battered Amaretti biscuits before covering them up with the remainder of the batter. 
4. Level out the cake batter and then place in the oven for around 45 minutes until our old friend the inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Whilst the cake is baking prepare the frosting. Place the butter, sugar and cream cheese in a bowl and gently beat them together until just combined, smooth and thick. Do not over beat the frosting otherwise it will become to runny. Place the frosting into the fridge until needed.
6. Once the cake has cooled, slather the top of the cake with the frosting. Bash the remaining 100g of biscuits and sprinkle them over the top of the frosting.

If you want the full crunch experience then make sure you serve the cake straight after you have crumbled over the biscuits. They can soften and go chewy over a couple of hours which, don't get me wrong is still delicious but the crunchiness of the biscuits does give the overall experience an extra dimension that is absolutely divine. Cut yourself a big slab and admire that fabulous marbled effect caused by the biscuit centre. Take a big bite and enjoy that Amaretto flavor of this truly fabulously cake

I call it the "Amarettietto" cake!