One of the things I love most about summer is the food. The new potatoes, the summer fruits and always having an excuse to eat ice-cream (not that I ever need an excuse to eat ice-cream). The biggest one for me though is the fruit and especially strawberries and raspberries. Anyone from Ireland knows that the best strawberries and raspberries come from Wexford and I have the fondest memories of driving up to visit my Granny in Dublin during the summer months and stopping off to get fresh strawberries and raspberries from the vendors dotted along the coast road to Dublin from Waterford (before the motorway existed that is). Now unfortunately this recipe doesn't include Wexford raspberries as they are pretty hard to come by in London but the raspberries I am using are perfectly acceptable!!
My parents were visiting at the weekend and while mum was engrossed in the Golf and Dad in his Sunday paper I thought it was the perfect time to go baking. They always complain they never get to sample the treats they read so much about online I couldn't let them leave without baking something for them. We had some raspberries left over from the previous nights desert and I spotted a lonely lemon in the fridge and decided to try out a new recipe. This cake is so tasty and easy to make and lasts for days if stored in an air tight container in a cool dry place. Why not try it for yourself?
Ingredients:
175g Butter (at room temperature)
175g Caster Sugar
175g Self Raising Flour (sifted)
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of 1 Lemon (grated)
1 Cup of fresh Raspberries
300g Royal Icing Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
Prepare:
Grease and line your loaf tin with butter and parchment paper and preheat your oven to 170C. I used a 2 lb (or 900g) loaf tin.
Method:
Cream together your butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl until a light and fluffy consistency. It is important that your butter is at room temperature as it helps to dissolve the sugar. If your butter is too cold your mixture will just clump together and you will not get the proper consistency. One by one add your eggs mixing in between each egg. For this cake I used a handheld electric whisk. You can also use a free standing mixer with pedal attachment or unlike me if you have great upper arm strength a regular balloon whisk!
Once all your eggs have been added stir in your vanilla extract and lemon zest. When that is all combined you can fold in your flour. It is important to fold in your flour as opposed to mixing it in because you want to keep as much air in the mixture as possible to help the cake rise. Once the flour is well combined you can fold in your raspberries. Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and place in the oven for 55 mins - 1 hour. You will know the cake is cooked when it is golden brown in appearance and a skewer or cocktail stick placed in the middle comes out clean.
Place on a wire rack to cool and go ahead and prepare your icing. Place your icing sugar in a mixing bowl and slowly add your lemon juice. Begin with 2-3 tablespoons and one teaspoon at a time after that if needed. Stir until you get a runny paste consistency. You will know the icing is done when you lift and pour a spoon of the icing onto itself and it holds its shape for a few seconds before disappearing.
Once the cake has cooled COMPLETELY you can pour the icing over the entire top of the cake and let it ooze down the side of the cake naturally. Try to resist coaxing it down as you may pull crumbs with it! You may want to put some kitchen paper or parchment paper under the cooling rack to catch the excess. Leave the icing to form a slight crust before slicing and enjoy :) .
I hope you do try out this recipe and if you do please let me know how you got on. As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so tag me, tweet me or just leave me a message telling me how you got on. I hope you are all having a lovely summer so far and the weather is nice wherever you're reading this from!
Happy Baking,
O x
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