Almond Croissant Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 400g plain flour

• 75g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

• 50g porridge oats

• 75g dried morello cherries

• 80g golden marzipan, broken into small chunks

• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 orange, zest only

• 275ml buttermilk

• 1/2 tsp almond extract

For the frangipane topping:

• 100g unsalted butter, softened

• 100g caster sugar

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1/2 orange, zest only

• 100g ground almonds

• 150g flaked almonds

• Icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C (180C fan), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Add your flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a large mixing bowl. Add your cubed butter and rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add in your oats, cherries, marzipan and orange zest and give it a mix with a knife until combined.

3. Measure your buttermilk into a jug. Add your almond extract, stir, and add to your dry ingredients - mixing as you pour - until it comes together as a dough.

4. Gently shape into a round loaf about 20cm in diameter. Try not to handle it too much as this will produce a tough and chewy bread. Using a wooden spoon carefully make a cross in the top of the dough, pressing about half way down the loaf. This will hold your frangipane mix.

5. Place on the lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes while you make your frangipane.

6. In a bowl of a stand mixer, beat together your butter, sugar and orange zest until pale and creamy. With the motor running, slowly add your beaten egg until combined. Finally tip in your ground almonds and give it a final mix to combine.

7. Fit a piping bag with an 11mm nozzle and carefully add the frangipane. Snip off the end.

8. Remove the loaf from the oven then carefully pipe your frangipane in the cross on top of the loaf. Pinch together as many flaked almonds as you can at one time and stand them up in the frangipane until all the mixture is covered.

9. Put the loaf back in the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes until it’s a deep brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

10. Remove from the oven, place on a wire cooling rack then liberally dust with icing sugar before serving.