MIXED BERRY & LEMON CAKE

I am not the one to bake for a special occasion.

People too often want a performance piece for a special occasion, and for that, there are so many talented professionals out there who can give you an absolute show stopping architecture of sponge with all sorts of fireworks. While I can aspire to that level of skill, for me, a stir and pour is what comes out of my kitchen of a weekend; and that’s perfectly fine.

This cake doesn’t need applause, it just needs company.

It’s a simple spoon and bowl number mottled with plump, chewy morsels of fruit joined together by a soft, springy yellow sponge that will compliment a cup of tea like no other.

I baked this cake one Saturday when I knew my friend was popping over later. It started life in my head as a two-tier affair with buttercream and fruit on top and then I realised that I didn’t have time for the fruit to thaw so I said sod it and just threw it in the batter and make it a square bake.

The result was something I was so surprisingly happy with that I had to reverse engineer how I did it because I was literally freestyling.

The choice of frozen mixed berries over a singular fruit was not a calculated one but a product of circumstance because that’s what I had in the freezer, I see no reason why you couldn’t swap out the mixed berries for a more restricted fruit choice i.e. just strawberries, just cherries, just blackberries etc, I would just keep the weight at 150g. But I actually quite like the mix of fruit in the cake, it gives each wedge a different point of interest as well as a tapestry of colour.

Cuts into 9 chunks

200g unsalted butter

130g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon

200g plain flour

25g cornflour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

150g frozen mixed berries

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm square tin.
2. In a big bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla to the bowl along with the zest of the lemon and stir into the batter.
4. One by one, crack the eggs into the bowl, stirring between each egg to thoroughly combine.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornflour and rising powder and stir together with a fork.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the wet in three instalments, stirring in between each addition to create a smooth batter.
7. Tip the frozen berries into the batter and fold through.
8. Scrape the batter into the lined tin, and pop into the oven for 50 – 55 minutes until a thin skewer can be prodded into the cake and come out clean. Unless you stab through a piece of fruit…
9. Rest the cake until cooled – but only a for a little bit because it’s wonderful eaten slightly warm – before removing carefully from the tin and slicing into chunks to serve.