This is a very easy but seriously yummy cake from Rachel Allen’s CAKE. I love cakes that come in loaf tins also – the are easy to throw into a lunch box, and they look like they might be healthy (we even call banana bread bread, when it is clearly cake). Most people love bakewell tart, but few have the patience to faff around with pastry, jam AND cake in one baking sesh. Even I’d be bored. So this is a good compromise – the general gist of a bakewell tart in one, quick and dirty batter. Enjoy.
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter the sides of a 20cm cake tin/2lb loaf tin and line the base with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Whisk the eggs and the almond extract together in a jug for a few seconds (literally just to break up the eggs) then gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture, beating all the time. Don’t add the eggs all at once – it will go weird and grainy.
3. Next beat in the milk. Add the flour and ground almonds, carefully folding these in just until they are mixed – don’t beat after you add the flour or you will activate the gluten and your cake will be tough, and you’ll be attacked by ninjas and end up on the street etc. Add the raspberries and fold in gently so as not to break them up too much.
4. Plop the batter into the prepared tin, then scatter over the flaked almonds. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 mins then remove the cake from the tin, scoring around the edges with a knife if it needs a little coaxing. Leave on a wire rack to cool down completely before trying to move it. Serve with cream, or greek yoghurt and some soft berries.
