chocolate cake with caramelised almond praline topping

chocolate cake with caramelised almond praline topping

• 7 Sept 2026

I still rue the demise of the print version of Delicious Magazine because I like a hard copy from which to cook. Today's bake is a Michael James recipe which popped up on my Delicious Magazine IG feed. It looked appealling and best of all it was made with pantry items. I only needed to buy some more flaked almonds and the rest of the ingredients were already in my fridge or pantry.

One review I read complained that the cake batter was too generous for the tin size, and spilled out of the tin when baked. I adjusted all the ingredients down to fit my tin but even then the cake batter was close to overflowing during the bake. So I'd suggest filling the tin 2/3 only as it's inclined to rise during the bake.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from this recipe, which makes a 7 cm deep 17.5 cm x 8.5 cm (base) loaf. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Chocolate cake with caramelised almond praline topping

Almond praline

35g unsalted butter, chopped

pinch seasalt flakes

85g brown sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 small orange
25g honey or golden syrup
80g flaked almonds

Cake ingredients 
114g plain flour
35g dutched cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
pinch fine sea salt
150g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
85g buttermilk

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced/170°C, conventional. Grease a deep 17.5 cm x 8.5cm (base) loaf pan and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Almond topping

Melt the butter, sugar, orange zest and honey or syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and syrupy. Pour the syrup into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top. Set aside to cool while you make the cake batter.

Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarb and the fine salt together into a medium bowl, then set aside. 

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer still running on a slow speed, gradually add the egg to the butter mixture a little at a time, ensuring each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next.

Alternate between adding a third of the dry ingredients and a third of the buttermilk to the mixer bowl, mixing well between each addition, until all the ingredients have been added and the batter has just come together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the batter is completely mixed.

Gently pour the batter into the pan over the almonds and caramel, ensuring the tin is only 2/3 full as the cake will rise. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes at 160°C fan-forced/170°C, conventional, or until the top is firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then set a wire rack over a tray lined with baking paper. Invert the still-warm cake onto the wire rack, then gently lift off the pan, being careful to avoid touching the caramel, which will still be extremely hot. 

Scrape any leftover almonds and caramel left in the pan onto the loaf. Cool completely before serving. 

This makes a deeply dark cocoa flavoured cake with a lovely almond praline topping. I think it would eat better with a more even cake to praline ratio so I might remake it as a slice or squares. Watch this space!

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian