This Golden Syrup heart loaf cake is a cake within a cake… well, not quite. What you do is mix two different batters; in this recipe one is a beetroot cake and the other a golden syrup one. The finished product looks a lot trickier to do than is actually the case.
The uncooked beetroot cake mixture was such a vibrant pink – it was so beautiful! If only I’d remembered from when I used it on a previous occasion that it loses its colour once cooked, it turns to a golden brown.
As it happened, the two cake mixtures were virtually the same colour once they’d both been cooked. Epic “nailed it!” attempt on my part.
You can make the central shape anything you like – it doesn’t have to be a heart. It can be a plain circle or a square or any shape cookie cutter you have to hand. Similarly, the flavour and colour of your cakes can be something else of your choosing. Use a couple of tablespoonfuls of cocoa powder or fine-ground instant coffee and the inner colour will be dark brown. You could simply use a few drops of food colouring in one or both of the cake mixtures; yellow & green, pink & blue… or even lighter and darker shades of the same colour.
I’m going to have to try this recipe again – I won’t let it defeat me!
Click here or on the image below to save this Golden Syrup heart loaf cake recipe to Pinterest
- 100g/3½oz caster sugar
- 100g/3½oz butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 100g/3½oz self-raising flour
- 25g/1oz beetroot powder
- 100g/3½oz butter
- 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
- 50g/1¾oz light brown soft sugar
- 200g/7oz Golden Syrup
- 250g/9oz self-raising Flour
- 1 egg
- 135ml/4¾fl oz milk
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease and line a 23cm/9" square cake tin
- Cream together the caster sugar and butter until light and fluffy
- Whisk the eggs and add to the sugar/butter mixture in 2 increments
- Sift in the self-raising flour and beetroot powder and fold into the batter
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes until fully cooked
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes, remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack
- Once fully cooled, use a heart-shaped cutter to carefully cut out bat shapes from the cake. Set the shapes aside while you prepare the other cake mixture
- Grease and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin
- In a small saucepan add the caster sugar, light brown soft sugar, golden syrup and butter and gently melt. Set aside and allow to cool
- Sieve the self-raising flour into a large mixing bowl
- Whisk together the milk and egg before adding them to the flour alongside the cooled sugar/syrup/butter mixture
- Combine until smooth and lump-free
- Spoon about ⅓ of the mixture into the loaf tin
- Get the heart shapes and carefully set them upright into the mixture. Place them tightly together so they hold each other up
- Carefully spoon the rest of the mixture into the loaf tin. Ensure you cover the hearts and that they stay in place
- Bake for about 45 minutes, until fully cooked
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin
- Slice and serve