Tuesday 26 June 2012

Raspberry Bakewell Cake

When a new colleague of mine told me her birthday was coming up, I did what any food-obsessed young lad desperately trying to make friends in a strange environment would do; I told her I'd make her a cake. As it happened, on the eve of the big day there was a pretty important football match that would require my full attention leaving me in a bit of a predicament. Either I let her down on her special day (obviously not an option), I didn't get to sit down, put my feet up, drink beer and watch the football (VERY obviously not an option), or I found a quick and totally delicious option that kept everyone happy. This cake was that option.
So with an hour and a half to go before kickoff it was time to get my bake on. Rinse 200g of fresh raspberries and set aside whilst you make the cake batter. It's ok, I'm about to crack open a beer and then I'm going to watch football...like a man.
I thought it only appropriate to enjoy a Polish beer before I was about to enjoy a football match being played in Poland. Well actually it was being played in Ukraine, but the sentiment was there anyway. Tyskie is a great beer, but it always reminds me of when I used to work in a bar and the same small select group of guys used to come in and drink Tyskie. One of them wore a cowboy hat. HE WORE A COWBOY HAT IN BLEEDING MANCHESTER. Some people...
140g each of ground almonds, softened butter, self-raising flour and caster sugar. 2 eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix everything together until nice and smooth and pretty darned delicious (just a taste though...raw eggs can make you bleugh).
Grease a deep 20cm springform tin with copious amounts of butter and then fill with half of the batter, then scatter the raspberries on, then spread the rest of the batter on top. It might get a bit squishy but that's all good, and it looks all marble-like which makes for a nice photo.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 50 minutes, or if you or your girlfriend 'accidentally' turns the oven off (definitely not me, definitely not her, but definitely her) about 40 minutes plus an additional 10-15 minutes checking regularly. I'm probably in trouble for writing this.
Dust with icing sugar and leave to cool, then crack open another Polish cowboy beer and watch the football. Job well done. For the record the cake went down a treat with the birthday girl and the rest of the office, and England won the football. Job very well done.

Ingredients
200g raspberries
140g caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
140g butter
140g ground almonds
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
icing sugar

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