BROWN BUTTER, MISO AND WALNUT CAKE

(Serves 9)

INGREDIENTS: For the cake: 250g unsalted butter; 30g reduced-salt miso paste; 225g caster sugar; 3 eggs; 225g self-raising flour; 50ml full-fat yogurt; 40g broken walnuts

For the syrup: 50g white sugar; 50ml water; 20g reduced-salt miso paste; 40g walnuts, chopped

METHOD:

1. A couple of hours before you bake, put the butter in a small pan and heat until it bubbles gently. Use a whisk to scrape the base and sides of the pan, so the milk solids don’t burn.

2. From the moment the butter melts it should take 3-4 minutes over a medium heat. Get a bowl to tip the brown butter into when ready. It will start smelling like butterscotch, its colour will go from light gold to amber, and its bubbling sound will quieten.

3. Whisk the miso into the warm butter; you should have 225g of butter mix. Put it into a container and leave it to cool and firm up (stir it a couple of times while it sets, to re-emulsify). It should be soft, like roomtemperature butter.

4. Preheat the oven to 170ºc fan. Line a 20cm square or round cake tin, or a 900g loaf tin, with baking parchment.

5. Put the cooled brown butter-miso mixture in a bowl, or a food mixer, with the sugar. Beat for 5mins with electric beaters or the food mixer at a high speed. (Beat for a little longer if doing it by hand.)

6. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between each. Add the self-raising flour and fold it in carefully by hand.

7. Mix in the yogurt, again by hand. Spread the batter into the prepared tin, scatter the walnuts over, then push into the batter slightly.

8. Bake for 40-50mins, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

9. While it is cooling, in a pan dissolve the sugar in the measured water. Take off the heat, add the miso and whisk together. Add chopped walnuts and put the pan back over the medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring the whole time.

10. Spread the syrup over the cake, let it cool slightly, then enjoy!