Vanillicious.com – Easy Desserts

Remember my berries obsession? I didn’t bake with berries for a while, and today I bought some frozen berries, which means I’m the proud owner of 1kg of frozen berries. Berries to bake with! And perhaps snack the blackcurrants while I bake, because they are such a great snack when they are frozen or semi-frozen (not when thawed, though..)

What makes this cake so special is the combined flavours of the lemon and berries. If there’s one thing I learned since I started baking (for the sake of argument, right?), it is that the flavours of berries and lemon go so well together. Even when I prepare a home made berries yogurt (with store-bought natural yogurt!), I add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice. It blend so well together and the lemon enriches and strengthens the berries flavour.

A few notes regarding the ingredients:

• I actually prefer to use limes (zest and juice) instead of lemon just because I think the cake looks more interesting with the tiny greenish hints in it. If you decide to replace the lemon, make sure you use two limes, because in baking, size (and measurements) matters!
• Frozen berries are perfectly fine for this cake. I think fresh berries should be used only when they suppose to keep their original shape and when they are not supposed to be baked. A good example is berry tarts or tartlets.
• In my opinion, the best berry-mix for this cake is raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Though once I had a mix that contained cherries as well, and I discovered they can go pretty well in this cake, too. If you prefer, you can omit the blackberries, which are (relatively) the sweetest (or less sour) berry in this mix.

You’ll need:

• 23cm springform tin

• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g sugar
• 4 medium sized eggs, beaten
• 200g self-raising flour
• 0.5tsp baking powder
• 60g ground almonds
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 200g mixed berries

For the lemon drizzle:

• finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 100g caster sugar

How to:

(1) Preheat the oven to 150c
(2) Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy
(3) Gradually add the eggs
(4) Fold in the flour, baking powder and ground almonds
(5) Fold in the zest and juice of the limes
(6) Gently fold in half the fruit (we want the mixture to stay yellowish)
(7) Place the mixture in the tin
(8) Top with the remaining berries
(9) Place the tin in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes

The lemon drizzle:

(1) Combine the lemon zest and juice together with the sugar in a small saucepan
(2) Cook over low-medium heat, until the sugar is dissolved
(3) Pour over the cake while the cake is still hot (seeps in better)

Serving: with fresh berries on top or aside the slice or berries purée

Tags: berries, lemon and lime

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