Anticipation

There is a cake in the oven...

...and a delicious smell wafting around the house.  I made the filling whilst waiting for it to cook...

...then took it out, with trepidation and oven gloves.

 It seemed to be quite a splendid cake...

 ...and the turning out worked!  When it's finished and decorated, half of it is going to be left in Durham with Alastair, and the other half is being taken down to Nottinghamshire for Mum, Dad and Jules.  I'll tell you what kind of cake it is when they've had a slice - wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!

Cake update - it's a messy cake!  The topping/filling is made of whipped cream, marscapone cheese and maple syrpup (drool) and I didn't whip it enough, so there was an awful  lot of oozing and licking of fingers when I filled and topped it!  I haven't got a photo of it in its whole state, as it has now been cut into slices and packed in tupperware for its journey to Nottinghamshire, I but will try and get some pictures of it before it's devoured this weekend!

Update

It was a Maple and Pecan Cake -  not my own recipe, but one from the marvellous Olive Magazine, I recommend you go there straightaway.  I would subscribe if I didn't want to be the size of a house side.  I thought it was a trifle dry, and can see why the recipe wanted you to slice the cake into three horizontally and put filling in between each section as well as on the top and sides (I sliced it twice) but my guinea-pigs were very complimentary.  The icing also became less oozy after a journey from Durham to Newark on the East Coast mainline - you might be able to see the difference between the first and the other pictures - not sure I would recommend this as a solidification method though!