Raspberry and gooseberry cake

 

Up until about an hour before making this cake it was going to be a raspberry cake, but then I saw some irresistible purple gooseberries in my local greengrocers and decided on adding them to the cake.  It was a good decision even if the weight of them did cause the fruit to sink a bit – maybe next time I’ll cut them in half.

Berries are one of the wonders of baking; they make every cake they’re in a delight.  I love the way they add so much colour and flavour, but most of all I love the little pockets of squidginess they add to the sponge.

The Chambord liqueur is an extravagance!  It’s one of my favourite liqueurs as it’s so fruity.  I often find fruit liqueurs taste more of raw alcohol than fruit but this one is delicious.  It adds a fruity pep to the batter and I will be using it in other baked goods – I’m thinking it would work well in buttercreams, mousses and cheesecakes as it doesn’t have a harsh alcoholic sting.

A beautiful cake deserves a beautiful mould and look at this one!  It’s the I Heart Cake mould from Mustard.  They very kindly offered me one to try out.  If you cut it correctly (in extremely pleasing large slices!) every slice is a heart...you are literally offering someone your heart.  Who knew heart tasted so good?

But best of all – and to continue the theme of sharing the love – Mustard offered me a second mould.  They will send a free I Heart Cake mould to the winner of my competition.  The winner will be drawn at random on Saturday 3 August and the closing date for entries is midnight on Friday 2 August.  The competition is open to anyone in the UK and to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post telling me who you would like to serve a slice of heart shaped cake to.

Ingredients

350g unsalted butter, at room temperature
350g golden caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons extra for sprinkling on top
2 tablespoons Chambord liqueur – you can you any other liqueur or milk if you don’t want any booze
6 eggs
350g self raising flour
300g raspberries
100g purple gooseberries – you can use any other berry or soft fruit

To serve: clotted cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Use cake release spray in the silicon heart cake mould.  If you are using a more standard tin then I suggest a 23cm round springform tin – don’t use a 20cm one, this is a BIG cake!

Place the butter in a bowl and beat until soft.

Add the sugar and beat together until pale, light and whippy.

Beat in the Chambord.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, if it looks like the mix will curdle add some of the flour.

Stir in the flour.

Spoon a generous half of the batter into the prepared mould and level the surface.

Scatter half the raspberries over the batter.

Cover with the remaining cake batter and level the surface.

Scatter over the remaining raspberries, along with the gooseberries and gently press into the batter – don’t be too heavy handed, they will naturally sink into the batter during baking.

Sprinkle the remaining golden caster sugar over the top.

Bake for 50 minutes before checking; if the edges are browning quicker than the centre cover them with a strip of foil.  Don’t be surprised if it takes comfortably over an hour to bake.  Mine took 1 hour 15 minutes.  It’s done when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 30 minutes in the tin on a wire rack before attempting to turn out – cakes with lots of berries are squishy and tender from the oven.

Serve with clotted cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Gooseberry fool

I was extremely lucky recently to be sent a gift box from Abel and Cole to try some of the items from their “kitchen cupboard – baking” section. I’ve showcased these items elsewhere, but included in my box were some of the most gorgeous gooseberries I’ve ever tasted. Now, I know what you’re going to say, “ but this fool can’t be made with gooseberries – gooseberries are green!”.

Well, these are dessert gooseberries and are the same colour as a black grape. They are also much sweeter than the green gooseberry and taste like fruit punch, yet all from one fruit!

Whilst making this, I pondered whether any dessert had a less fortunate name! Gooseberry is always used disparagingly – it’s the unwanted person in a trio. Fool is obviously not a compliment. So I searched the net to find out why such a tasty dessert would be labelled a fool. As with much of life, there are no straightforward answers.

‘Foole’ is first mentioned as a dessert in 1598. Some people say that the word ‘fool’ comes from the French “fouler” meaning to crush, but the Oxford English Dictionary dismisses this as without evidence. Maybe we’ll never know....it’s something to ponder whilst tucking into a bowlful of nature’s delights!

Ingredients:

350g gooseberries ( I used dessert gooseberries)
1 tablespoon water
75g (or to taste) caster sugar
300ml double cream
200g cold, fresh custard

How to make:

- Place the washed gooseberries in a saucepan with the water and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. There’s no need to top and tail the fruit as the pulp will be sieved later.

- Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring to ensure the fruit breaks down.

- Puree in a food processor, then sieve the ensure that all the pips are removed.

- Stir in the sugar, then leave to cool completely.

- Whip the cream until it reaches the soft peak stage.

- Fold in the custard.

- Fold in the gooseberry puree. Don’t over stir as it’s nice to have a marbled texture.

- Spoon into dessert glasses.

- Chill until required.

- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.

- Eat.