Kueh Sarang Semut - Ants' Nest Cake

What better way to get someone to come and sign your passport application for you than to bribe them with cake and coffee? This worked which meant I had to hurriedly go and get my passport photos taken this morning. Fortunately whilst waiting for the photos to be developed I just happened to be browsing cookbooks (I'm not obsessive I swear) and stumbled across Adam Liaw's cookbook "Two Asian Kitchens". In it was a delicious sounding recipe for an "Ants' Nest Cake" so naturally I had to buy the book. This cake has very few ingredients and is easy to make. Nathan was in charge of coffee of course and so we all had a scrummy afternoon tea. So here is the Rikki -ised version of Adam's recipe:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Ingredients ~

• 220g caster sugar
• 250mL water
• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 125mL condensed milk (can't go wrong with condensed milk!)
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda, sifted

To Bake ~

• Put the sugar in a medium saucepan over low-med heat and melt, swirling occasionally until a dark caramel colour (this will take about 20mins but you can basically do the rest of the recipe at the same time, just don't forget about the sugar!).
• Once melted add the water (from a distance - the recipe says it will spit and I can vouch for that). The caramel will harden but lower the temperature and keep stirring and in about 10mins it will all be a lovely caramelly liquid. Let it cool to room temperature (if you are impatient like me transfer to a bowl and it will cool quicker).
• Cream the butter and the vanilla extract until the butter is pale in colour. 
• In a separate bowl whisk the eggs until whites and yolks are well combined. Add eggs, condensed milk and caramel to the butter and whisk to combine. Then add the flour and bicarb and whisk to combine.
• The butter will not mix in properly, it will look like a light brown liquid with floating butter everywhere - don't panic, this is what it is meant to look like.
• Pour batter into a greased and lined 18cm round cake tin (or whatever pan you have that is vaguely similar in size to this). Bake for 50mins - it will be soft and spongey to touch in the centre when it is cooked. 
• Allow to cool in the pan for 20mins and then turn onto a cooling tray. It tastes really nice if you serve when it is still warm :) 

Why is it called an Ants' Nest Cake? Nath and I think it is because there are all little grooves in the cake that look like ant tunnels. Katie thinks it is because it is so sweet and it will attract ants - either way it is delicious!