African Cashew Alliance

For the topping:
90g butter
0.5 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
100g unsalted roasted or raw cashews, coarsely chopped

For the cake:
125g butter
0.75 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
0.5 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice
0.5 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Grease 15cm x 20cm loaf pan, line base AND SIDES with baking paper, extending 2 cm above edge of pan. Preheat oven to 180C.

Beat butter, sugar and syrup in small bowl with spoon until smooth; spread over base of prepared pan. Sprinkle with cashews.

Beat all cake ingredients together in a bowl with electric mixer, on low speed until combined, then on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changed to a lighter color.

Spread cake mix into pan over cashews.Bake about one hour. Stand cake in pan 10 minutes. To remove cake from pan, gently pull at lining paper until you can feel that the cake is loose from the sides and bottom of pan. Turn onto wire rack, and very gently remove the paper. If some nuts stick to the paper, just pull them off and put them back on the cake.