One for the sweet tooth!
I found this recipe by Sarah Cooke in the August 2011 edition of BBC Good Food Magazine. This drizzle cake’s versatility is almost endless, as you can use pretty much any available summer fruit. You can go for stone-fruits (Apricots, Nectarines, Peaches, or Plums) or berries (Raspberries, Redcurrants, or Blackcurrants, or Strawberries), and I chose a couple of punnets of delicious blueberries.
Compared to a classic pound cake, this drizzle cake has fewer eggs and more flour, leading to a very thick batter. Don’t be afraid; the fruit in the cake and the fruit juices from the topping that will permeate the holes of the skewered cake will avoid any dryness. And even better, the second day when the cake has fully absorbed the juices!
The drizzle part was a bit too much for us as the thick sugar coating was somewhat overpowering, even though I added almost 3 instead of 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the 140g/5oz sugar to balance it out. Consequently, I have cut down that part of the sugar in the recipe below. Furthermore, as we found the top of the cake a bit overcrowded with berries compared to the cake itself, I have also flipped the fruit ratio in/on the cake from 40/60 to about 65/35.
The recipe (serves 8)
- 175g / 6¼ oz very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 175g / 6¼ oz golden caster sugar
- 250g / 9 oz self-raising flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 180g / 6¼ oz blueberries
- 90g / 3¼ oz caster sugar
- 2 tbsp citrus juice (I used lemon juice, but lime or orange is fine as well)
- Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF.
- Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin and line the base and ends with a long strip of baking parchment in order to be able to lift the cake from the tin.
- Put the butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs, and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer for about 5 minutes until pale and creamy. The mixture will be very thick.
- Spread one-third of the cake mix into the loaf tin, then scatter over about 60g/2oz of the fruit. Carefully dot and spread another third of the batter on top, and scatter with another 60g/2oz fruit. Finally, dot the remainder of the batter over and (try to) gently spread it with the back of a spoon.
- Bake the cake for 1 hour, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Towards the end of the baking time put the remaining fruit into a bowl with the granulated sugar. Stir in the citrus juice first with a fork, mashing the fruit a little as you go to release their juices. If the sugar/fruit mixture looks a bit dry, add a splash more citrus juice or water.
- Remove the cake from the oven, poke the cake all over with the skewer, and spoon the fruit/sugar mixture over the cake.
- Leave in the tin until the cake is cool and the topping is set and crisp. Use the strip of baking parchment to lift it out.
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