A perfect accompaniment to Nuvy’s Berry Balance tea infusion (visit our online tea shop at nuvys.com). This luscious and creamy cake is your guilty pleasure! If you prefer, instead of pine nuts, you can use almond flakes or crushed pistachio kernels. Yummy!!

Serves 6/8 people

Ingredients:

For the soft cake

2 eggs

120g sugar

40g room temperature unsalted butter

40g whole milk

140g plain flour

6g baking powder

For the diplomat cream

4 medium yolks

500g whole milk

40g corn starch

120g sugar

1 splash of vanilla extract

284ml double cream

1tablespoon icing sugar for the double cream

To decorate the soft cake

A handful of pine nuts

Icing sugar

Method

To prepare the soft base

In a medium size bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar with the help of a hand mixer until they are soft and light.

Add milk, butter, and continue to whisk the mixture.

Add the sifted flour and baking powder and whisk again until you get a creamy and lump-free dough.

Pour it into a greased and floured mould.

Bake in the oven at 180 ° for about 20 minutes (please note that baking time may vary depending on the type of oven you use).

When golden brown, remove it from the oven and let it cool before removing it from the mould and put it on a plate.

To prepare the diplomat cream

Pour the milk into a saucepan and add a splash of vanilla extract.

Put it on the stove and let it heat over a medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, in a medium size bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar, add the corn starch and mix until you don’t see any lumps.

Pour the mixture into the hot milk slowly and stir constantly until it thickens.

Your custard cream is ready.

Remove it from the heat, pour it into a container and cover it with a sheet of cling film to prevent the milk proteins from forming a thin crust on top when refrigerated.

Let the cream cool well in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Time to build the cake

Take the cake, cut the top, insert the pine nuts all over it and put it aside.

Take the custard cream out of the fridge.

Take the double cream, add the tablespoon of icing sugar and whip it (if you prefer your cake with custard cream, skip this and the next passage).

Mix the custard cream with the whipped cream by folding gently the two together with a rubber spatula.

Pour the mixture into the centre of the cake, level it and cover with the top you put aside earlier.

Sprinkle icing sugar and the cake is ready to be served!