This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
I attended one of Jane Lovett’s marvellous Zoom online classes and downloaded all the recipes she demonstrated. This one has become a firm favourite – I have made it no less than four times in two weeks! It lasts in the fridge for at least 3 days. It uses fresh raspberries which you may think are not perhaps the best thing to buy at this time of year, but I find they add a slight tartness which balances beautifully with the richness of the white chocolate. Definitely recommend you try this recipe – and guess what? It is very easy and foolproof – even for a non-baker like yours truly!
Raspberry & White Chocolate Cake
Difficulty: Easy, Foolproof8
servings
Raspberries and white chocolate are right up there as far as flavours matched in heaven go! Although rustic, this is quite an indulgent, versatile cake, good as a pudding or for any time of day. Light and fluffy the day it’s cooked, the longer it keeps, the more damp it gets, in a nice syrupy way. So, if you’re after a little more moisture, especially if serving as a pudding, make it a day or two in advance.
Ingredients
110g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
110g self-raising flour
110g caster sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
100g best quality white chocolate (e.g. Dr Oetker or Green & Blacks), roughly chopped into varying sizes of ‘gravel’
150g fresh raspberries
icing sugar for dusting
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas 2 1⁄2. Lightly butter a loose-bottomed, 20cm round cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.
- Put the butter, flour, caster sugar, baking powder and eggs in a food-processor and whizz together for 20–25 seconds until well mixed (or, put them into a bowl and beat together by hand or with an electric hand-held mixer to make a soft cake mixture). If using a processor, spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and roughly spread out to the sides of the tin. Pile the chopped chocolate and the raspberries into the middle and gently stir to incorporate them into the mixture, avoiding the mixture around the very edges of the tin as best you can, then level out with the back of the spoon. (If making in a bowl, very gently fold the chocolate and raspberries into the mixture, then spread and level the mixture in the tin.)
- Bake for 55 minutes – 1hr 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, the cake is shrinking away from the sides of the tin and the top is springy to touch. If it’s not quite ready, bake it for a little longer. The length of time varies, and will depend on the juiciness of the raspberries. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 – 10minutes, then remove from the tin (keeping it raspberry-side up) and transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.
- Just before serving, dust the top with icing sugar and serve with any of the above suggestions, if you like.
Notes
- Serving suggestions – crème fraiche, double cream, natural Greek yoghurt; ice cream; freeze-dried raspberries
- The cake keeps very well in an airtight container or the fridge for 3 (or a few more) days and can be frozen. Serve the cake at room temperature or warm through in the oven (temp as above) for around 10 mins until just warmed through.
- Should the cake be slightly soggy in the very middle when cut into, this is a joy rather than a mistake!
- This particular cake can be eaten cold straight from the fridge, as flecks of chocolate which have permeated throughout, are set hard (as well as the odd not-fully-melted chocolate lump!).
- Blackberries are a lovely substitute for raspberries. Generally being less juicy than raspberries, the cake will only take around 55 mins to cook.
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