Annie’s cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C. For the candied walnuts, combine the walnuts, sugar and maple syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat and simmer without boiling until the nuts have darkened, about 20 – 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain the walnuts (reserving the caramel). Spread out walnuts on a baking tray lined with greased baking paper and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

For the butterscotch maple sauce, heat the cream and stir in the reserved caramel sauce. Simmer until thick, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

For the cake batter, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.

Add the sweet potato and maple syrup and mix well.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking powder together and stir in the chopped nuts. Combine the dry ingredients, alternating with milk, into the maple syrup mixture.

Pour the batter into two greased 20cm springform tins lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 35 – 40 minutes. Remove when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire cooling rack.

For the vanilla cream icing, beat butter until pale and creamy, sift over the icing sugar and beat into the butter.

Add hot water and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla seeds and cream cheese and beat thoroughly until smooth and creamy.

To assemble the cake, slice both cakes into two horizontally and sandwich the cakes together with vanilla cream icing. Spread the remaining icing over the cake and around the sides to cover the cake.

Pile the candied walnuts on top of the cake and drizzle with butterscotch sauce.