chestnut loaf cake with caramelised nuts

Did you notice a massive chunk at the end of this cake is missing? Well, I cut a slice off and ate that before I remembered I forgot to take a photo for the blog. And the cake is not actually that yellow/golden, special effect of the sunlight from the window making it look sparkly! 

Ingredients

• 110g plain flour
• 110g caster sugar
• 140g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 medium sized chestnuts
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tbsps milk 
• about 100-120g nuts, chopped into small pieces (I used walnut, cashew nut and pistachio)
• 100g white granulated sugar
• 30g butter
• 3 tbsp water

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C and line loaf tin with baking parchment
2. Sift and mix flour, caster sugar and baking powder together 
3. Cream the dry ingredients together with the butter, make sure the butter is at room temperature
4. Beat the eggs and milk together until silky, no need to over whisk this
5. Mix in a third of the egg into the cake mix and fold it in, then add in the rest and mix well
6. Chop cooked and peeled chestnuts into small pieces and mix them into the cake batter
7. Pour the mixture into loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes, the batter should start to become firm, but the inside is not cooked completely yet
8. When the cake has been baked for 20 minutes, start measuring white granulated sugar and put into a saucepan with 3 tbsp water and give it a good stir  with wooden spoon at low-medium heat
9. Take away spoon and let it boil without any stirring (N.B. very important, do not stir, or the sugar will crystallise and you will have to make it again)
10. Watch your caramel like a hawk, it can go from clear to amber quite quickly and once it is amber it can turn into a brown colour and become burnt within a minute
11. When the caramel is a golden/dark amber colour, but not brown, take it off the heat and add the butter to it
12. Let the butter melt without stirring
13. Once butter has melted, add in the chopped nuts and stir to coat nuts with caramel
14. Quickly lay the caramelised nut onto the cake and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes 
15. Take cake out of oven and test with a clean sharp knife, it should come out completely clean when it's done