VANILLA & POPPY SEED SWIRL CAKE

Steps:

• Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, milk, eggs and ½ tsp salt in a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for 5 mins, or tip into a large bowl and mix with your hands for 10 mins - the dough should look quite sticky at this stage. Add the butter, bit by bit, mixing after every addition, until it is all fully incorporated. Mix for a few more mins until smooth. Transfer to a clean, oiled bowl, cover with a sheet of oiled cling film and leave to rise for 3 hrs at room temperature (somewhere cool, otherwise the butter in the dough will start to melt), then transfer to the fridge and leave overnight (you can use the dough straight away but the flavour will not be as good).
• Tip the almonds into a large frying pan and toast for a few mins until starting to brown, then add the poppy seeds and toast for a few mins more until aromatic. Leave to cool completely.
• Tip the cooled seeds and nuts into a food processor with the butter, vanilla and honey, and whizz to a smooth paste.
• If using dough from the fridge, remove at least 3 hrs (or until it reaches room temperature) before using. Generously grease a large Bundt tin with butter (ours has a 2.5-litre capacity). Tip the dough onto your work surface and gently knead to knock out the air bubbles. Roll the dough to a rectangle, roughly 35 x 45cm, and spread the poppy seed butter all over the surface. Starting from one of the long sides, roll the dough up tightly. With the seam side facing up, place the dough into the Bundt tin in a ring shape, tucking one end into the other. Cover the tin with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 30-40 mins, or until it fills roughly ¾ of the tin. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• Uncover and bake for 35 mins until golden brown. Meanwhile, for the glaze, mix the icing sugar and vanilla with 2 tbsp water. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and brush all over with the vanilla glaze - keep layering it on until it is all used up. Cool for 10 mins before serving.