Having strong links to Nantes's colonial trading past, Nantaiscake was invented in the 19th century by a master pastry chef from Nantes. At that time, it was seen as a top class dessert, to be served at receptions, because of its luxurious ingredients.
Nantaiscake is a sweet round cake with rum-flavoured white icing. Its delicious spongey crumb, made from flour, sugar, eggs, butter and ground almonds, is soaked in rum from the Antilles, which gives it a melt-in-the-mouth texture and a particularly fragrant flavour.
To appreciate all the flavour s of this recipe, it is advisable to eat the Nantais cake one or two days after making it.