Serves 4
For the Madeiran honey cake:
- 500g sugar
- 500g wheat flour
- 5dl milk
- Zest of ½ lemon
- ½ tablespoon of soda bicarbonate
- 5g cinnamon
- ½L sugar cane honey
- 4 eggs
For the almond basket:
- 250g sugar
- 250g almonds
- 250g butter
- 250g glucose
- 125g wheat flour
For the crème Anglaise:
- ½ vanilla pod
- 125ml double cream
- 125ml milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 60g caster sugar
For the Madeiran honey cake:
Pour the sugar, wheat flour with soda bicarbonate, cinnamon and lemon zest into a large bowl – mix together with your hands (please remember that everything needs to be stirred by your hands alone and no one else's – there is a local saying: if you use anything else rather than your hands, you will ruin the cake). When mixing together, pour the milk in small amounts. At the end, add the sugar cane honey, the eggs, and stir everything, once again, with your bare hands.
For the almond basket:
Beat the butter until it becomes cream and then beat in the sugar, glucose, flour, almonds (200g roughly chopped; 50g in small pieces) to make a smooth batter. Mark four 10–20cm circles on a piece of baking parchment and place it on a baking sheet. Spread the batter out thinly on the circles with the back of a teaspoon and bake at 200º C, or until golden. Remove from the oven and leave for a minute or two. Then, while still hot, lift each tuile off the baking parchment and make it into a basket shape.
For the crème Anglaise:
Bring the milk to the boil with the vanilla pod. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar, then pour in the hot milk, stirring all the time. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon – do pay attention: do not let it boil. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl and cool quickly.
When everything is prepared, cut the cake in a bell shape, make a trio in a serving plate and add the duo by filling the almond basket with a ball of vanilla sorbet.
Finally, pour the crème Anglaise and set to your liking.