Gevulde Speculaastaart (Dutch spiced cake with almond filling)
Recipe · December
Ingredients
The ''secret'' ingredient of this delicious filled speculaas cake is puréed dates!
Dates, the fruit of palm trees, are rich in important minerals such as iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The dates give the cake a soft, slightly sweet flavour and also bind the ingredients in this recipe together.
Date purée:
- 30 grams SteviJa Zoetpoeder®
- 200 ml warm water
- 250 grams dates (stoned)
- 6 teaspoons almond flavouring
Almond paste:
- 200 grams date purée
- 300 grams ground almonds
- 50 grams SteviJa Kristal®
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt
Speculaas dough:
- 150 grams date purée
- 350 grams self-raising flour
- 130 grams butter (room temperature)
- 40 grams SteviJa Kristal®
- 1 teaspoon SteviJa Baksoda dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiled milk
- 4 teaspoons speculaas spice mix
- 2 eggs
- Blanched almonds
- Springform tin (20-22 cm)
Preparation
Date purée:
Dissolve the Zoetpoeder in the water. Put the water and the dates in a saucepan and place over a low to medium heat for 15 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and blend the dates to a smooth purée with a hand blender. Finally, stir the almond flavouring into the purée.
Almond paste:
Mix all the ingredients together, shape into a neat round ball and wrap it in cling film. Leave the paste to rest for 2 hours outside the fridge.
Speculaas dough:
Preheat the oven to 170 °C.
Mix all the ingredients, except 1 egg and the almonds, in a bowl. Knead with your hands to a supple dough, shape the dough into a neat round ball and wrap it in cling film.
Leave the dough to rest for 2 hours in the fridge.
Slide a baking tray in just below the middle of the oven. Grease the tin and dust it with a little flour.
Divide the ball of dough into two equal pieces. Dust the work surface and the dough with flour. Roll out each piece of dough with a rolling pin into a round sheet about 22 cm in diameter.
Place 1 sheet of dough in the tin and spread the almond paste over the dough with a wet spoon. Leave a border clear all the way round. Then place the second sheet of dough on the paste and press the edges together well. Brush the top of the dough with a beaten egg and press the almonds into the dough to decorate.
Bake the filled speculaas for about 40-45 minutes until cooked through. For the last 10 minutes of the baking time, cover the top of the cake with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent the almonds from burning. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the springform tin before serving.