Syabira Yusoff

A clear note about the source

The published method is a full recreation, not Syabira’s original tent formula. Its cake method is paired with a punchy gochugaru, sumac, and asam boi yogurt, apple-powder crumble, and buttercream. The source ingredient list does not give the quantity of walnuts mentioned once in the cake instructions, so this version leaves them out rather than guessing.

Ingredients

Cake

• 4 apples
• 15ml golden syrup
• 340g caster sugar
• 375g European-style butter
• 5 eggs
• 385g self-rising flour
• 5ml baking powder

Filling, buttercream, and crumble

• 5ml gochugaru (red chilli flakes)
• 5ml sumac
• 15g asam boi powder
• 350ml Greek yogurt
• 125g butter
• Pinch of salt
• 250g confectioners’ sugar
• 15ml heavy cream
• 30ml apple powder
• 250g all-purpose flour
• 125g cold butter
• 125g caster sugar

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line three loose-bottomed 8-inch tins.
2. Peel, core, and dice the apples. Cook them with 100ml water and the golden syrup over low heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring often, until soft like applesauce. Cool completely.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the apple sauce. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold until just combined. Divide among the tins.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the sponges spring back. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
5. Mix the gochugaru, sumac, and asam boi powder through the Greek yogurt. For the buttercream, beat the butter and salt until creamy, beat in the sifted confectioners’ sugar gradually, then whisk in the cream.
6. Heat the oven to 200°C. Rub the apple powder, flour, cold butter, and sugar together with your fingertips until crumbly. Bake on a tray for 15–20 minutes, until golden. Cool.
7. Put one sponge on a plate and top with half the spiced yogurt and half the crumble. Repeat with the second sponge, reserving crumble for the top, then add the final sponge. Pipe on the buttercream and finish with the crumble.

Baker’s tips

• The apple sauce needs to be genuinely cool. This is the quiet hinge of the recipe.
• Taste the spiced yogurt before layering; the chilli should arrive as a flicker, not flatten the apple.
• Let the crumble cool before it meets the yogurt so it keeps a little crunch.

Make-ahead

Bake the sponges and crumble ahead, cool, and store airtight. Layer the yogurt and buttercream on the day you serve the cake.