Method

1. Topping: In a medium saucepan, melt butter and honey. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Add vanilla and almonds, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Cake/Dough:  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out parchment paper to fit bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan, coat bottom of pan with cooking spray and place in bottom of pan.
3. Combine all of the dough ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl, stir until mixture becomes cohesive. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead for 5-8 minutes until smooth. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn and coat all sides with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 60 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled surface, fold over and expel any excess gas, roll into a ball, then pat the ball into the spring form pan, spread the topping over the dough in the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-29 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and topping is bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes, allow topping to firm up. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen any dough and flip cake over onto a plate, then flip back so the almond topping is up, cool completely before filling.
4. Filling: In the top of a double boiler over medium heat, combine cornstarch, milk and ¼ cup sugar, stir constantly until thickened, at least 3 minutes, add in 1 beaten egg and keep stirring constantly for about 2 minutes and very thick. Remove from heat, chill in an ice-water bath, stirring occasionally. Place plistic wrap in direct contact with the surface of pastry cream and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour. Whip the cream with the cream of tartar and confectioners’ sugar until stiff, add a dollop of this cream to the pastry cream and stir together to lighten the cream, then fold in the remaining whipped cream and refrigerate until you prepare the cake.
5. Assembling the cake: Peel off the parchment paper, cut cake in half horizontally and fill with the pastry filling, refrigerate until ready to serve.