I was invited to a friend’s house-warming party at the weekend and was excited to see her new place after months of hearing about it. Fitting with all my expectations, it was a cute little cottage that was exactly as I imagined – cosy and quirky with sloped floors and ceilings, and a wood burner to make it even more inviting.
A friend from work, she had invited all of our work girls and a couple of others we know – all of us keen bakers – and with so many of us travelling quite a distance to get there, we turned away from the wine we would have loved for what turned into a bit of a cake party! I decided to make one of my favourite cake recipes to share, while others made cake lollies, stout cake and banana cake – all very tasty!
I went for Raspberry, lemon and almond tray bake – a sweet almond cake topped with tart raspberries that makes a moreish treat!
The ingredients are:
- 125g plain flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 150g unsalted butter
- 75g ground almonds
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- juice of one lemon (3tbsp)
- 2 large eggs
- 200g fresh raspberries
- icing sugar, to dust
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (350 F/Gas 4). Line the base and sides of the cake tine with baking parchment.
- Sift the flower into a bowl, add the baking powder and ground almonds, and mix well.
- In a pan, melt the butter, sugar and lemon juice together, stirring until well combined.
- Stir the syrupy mixture into the dry ingredients, then mix in the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time, then mix until smooth and well-combined.
- Pour into the tin, then scatter the raspberries over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden, when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in the tine for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust icing sugar on top before serving, then cut into rectangles.
AbsolutelyLucy 