I really fancied making a cake, one that was light, fruity and low effort. The Violet Bakery does my favourite cakes in London and her recipes from her book do not disappoint - she’s got failsafe bakes that are really good to adapt from. This was an adaptation of her summer spelt almond cake and I was blown away by how light it was.
Sometimes when I bake something new, I think "yeah that was nice" but revert back to my old faithfuls, this cake is now in my roster. I can see myself making it again and again.
I used a punnet of fresh raspberries and a nectarine as I love those flavours together but you could use any fresh summer fruit, cherries and peaches would work a dream.
Use a 23cm round cake tin, grease it and line it with baking parchment
Cake 175g salted cooking butter 175g light brown sugar 2 eggs & 1 egg yolk 2 tsp vanilla essence 125g ground almonds 175g rice flour 2 tsp gluten free baking powder 200g whole raspberries 200g nectarines, sliced 2 tbsp caster sugar to sprinkle on top
Icing
200g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan and prepare your cake tin
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time add the egg yolk and vanilla Add the vanilla seeds.
Whisk in your almonds, flour, baking powder until just combined - be careful not to overwhisk
Pour into the cake tin and then sprinkle over the raspberries and press in the nectarine slices slightly
Sprinkle with the caster sugar and bake for around 45-50 minutes until a skewer comes out of the cake with no raw batter
Remove from oven and let it cool for 10 mins then carefully tip out onto your stand or plate but then tip back around to make sure the fruit side is facing up
Let it cool for another 15 minutes and then drizzle with the icing mixture
Eat whilst warm - this cake will only last a few days
