Raspberries & Cream Layer Cake

 

I love living in a city. Having lived in Birmingham for nearly 10 months, the novelty of having conveniences like a supermarket, clothes shops and a very cheap greengrocer less than a 5 minute walk from my house has not worn off. Don't get me started on the choice of bars and restaurants that are a short walk from New Street Station. If you've lived in a city for your whole life you might think this wide-eyed enthusiasm is close to insanity, but I spent my first 18 years living in the middle of nowhere, and later another two years in a dozy market town. Birmingham is awesome.

The raspberries for this cake were bought from the aforementioned greengrocer - 375g for £1 is a very good deal, in my opinion! I made the cake for a 'Summer' themed event at my local Clandestine Cake Club (which I also happen to run). I joined the club so I could meet new people, and though it has been hard to attract more than a handful of people to these events, I've made at least one friend through it so far. I would encourage anyone looking to meet new people to sign up to this club, as there are groups worldwide and it's a good excuse to bake and eat cake, not forgetting that it's completely free.

I know I haven't been around a lot this year... I have my reasons, but this does not mean that I'm giving up on Cake Of The Week; you might just hear a little less from me. If you miss me, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook, where I am much more vocal. (I have over 1000 followers on Facebook now! Wow!! I am flabbergasted.)

Before we dive into the recipe, I'm going to level with you. To make the ombre finish on the side of the cake, I used freeze dried sour cherry powder instead of freeze dried raspberry powder. I know. But, the cherry powder is pretty old and the flavour was faded enough for it not to be obvious what I'd done when we sat down to eat the cake. And I didn't have any freeze dried raspberry powder. Though guys, I'm sure this cake could only be enhanced by matching the flavour profiles in the decoration. Do what feels right to you.

Ingredients

• 200g Butter
• 275g Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 50mL Milk
• 200g Plain Flour
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 600g Double Cream
• 300g Raspberries
• 2 Tbsp Freeze Dried Raspberry Powder

Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 8in springform tin with baking parchment.
• Cream the butter and 200g of the sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth.
• Beat in the milk until well combined.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into the batter and fold in until well combined. The batter should have a soft dropping consistency. If not, add a little more milk at a time and stir well before checking again.
• Transfer the batter into the springform tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool in the tin before removing it. The next part is easiest if you first wrap the cake in cling film and freeze for four hours minimum; if you don't have time you'll be fine, but prepare for cake crumbs everywhere.
• Next, divide the cake into three layers. This is easiest if you use a pallette knife and a cake turntable.
• Whip the cream to stiff peaks.
• Wash the raspberries and dry thoroughly before stirring into the remaining sugar, 
• Use half the cream and all but a handful of the raspberries between the cake layers. Spread a dollop of cream over a cake layer, then cover with raspberries. Lay a cake layer on top and repeat.
• Cover the entire cake in a thin layer of cake, filling gaps between the cake layers, in order to get rid of any loose crumbs that might ruin the presentation of the cake.
• Take 1/3 the remaining cream and place in a separate bowl. Add the freeze dried raspberries and stir well. The cream should take on a pink hue. Feel free to add more.
• Spread the pink cream around the bottom of the cake. Don't smooth it out yet.
• Spread the remaining white cream over the top and top sides of the cake. Now smooth the cake over using a pallette knife, removing any excess. As you move the knife over the cream, the pink and white cream should naturally blend. 
• Decorate with the remaining raspberries.