Fresh Raspberry Bakewell Cake

Confession time; I've lived in the UK for 8 years now and I have never tasted a Bakewell Tart.  I know!  I am hanging my head in shame.  In my defence (feeble as it is!) there are a couple of reason for this, firstly almonds are a wonderful treat in nut form, fresh from the shell but I find its derivatives (ground almonds, almond extract etc) a bit medicinal tasting.  Marzipan and I are never going to be bosom buddies that's for sure.  The second excuse reason is that living in Edinburgh has brought so many other 'delicacies' to my attention; tablet, tiffin, Tunnocks Caramel Logs and Tea Cakes ... Deep Fried Mars Bars!  Hanging my head in shame again!

Then along comes a last minute invitation to a BBQ at Sis-in-Laws for dinner last night and the panic station alert was sounded!  I'd not been to the shops, the cupboards were bare, or as bare as they are ever likely to be in this house!  I had some fresh raspberries languishing in the fridge that needed using up and after much consulting of the web and notebooks it transpired that all the ingredients I needed to make a Fresh Raspberry Bakewell Cake were sitting in either my cupboard of fridge.  Yes - including the much needed ground almonds, leftover from the last lot of macaroons.

Fresh Raspberry Bakewell Cake
140g ground almonds
140g butter , softened
140g golden caster sugar
140g SR flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
Icing sugar , to serve

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Blitz the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined.

Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread - you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 8
Good Food Website

I am pleased to report my verdict is favourable!  I couldn't taste the almonds at all, instead the cake had a rich vanilla flavour which helped to cut through the tartness of the fresh raspberries.  It was a really tender cake that I honestly could have eaten seconds and thirds of ;0)