Berry Lemon Cake

I can't remember the last time I woke up to blue skies. Yesterday I had to walk through what seemed like a lake on the way to the hairdresser's. England, where is the summer please?  Now this little cake I made will not magically make the sun appear unfortunately, but it will hopefully give you a taste of summer! My Dad has decided to grow redcurrants this year so after hunting around for something to do with them I came across this recipe, which was quite wonderful. I've not really had anything with redcurrants in before I don't think, but I may be on the look-out for more. Who could resist having a bite of something which was brimming with these vibrant red jewels? Certainly not me anyway.

 

 

If you couldn't get your hand on any red currants though, you could definitely get away with using another berry instead - either raspberries or cranberries would be best. But I guess you could subistitute any other fruit you wanted really. In fact, if you used a fruit that was a bit sweeter, you could probably reduce the amount of sugar you put in, because I dread to think what the the sugar content of these little beauties is! Good job they're only small squares! Anyway, these are possibly one of the moistest cakes I've tasted, which I imagine is largely because of the dash (or two) of cream that you put in and the lemon syrup that is drizzled over just as it comes out of the oven. Surprisingly, they're fairly light too, so when the rain continues to pour over the next few days I'll be able to stuff myself with my Berry Lemon Cake and not feel as if I'm about to burst. Because let's be honest, it's unlikely that the sun will return any time soon. And I don't know about you, but I'll need something to cheer me up... 

Berry Lemon Cake     

Ingredients

175g Plain Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch Salt

150g Unsalted Butter

150g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

3tbsp Cream

150g Redcurrants (washed and stalks removed)

Juice of 2 Large Lemons (about 100ml)

100g Demerara Sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl cream the butter and caster sugar togther so it is light and fluffy. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time, folding in a spoonful of flour after each egg.

Fold in the remaining flour and gently stir in the redcurrants and cream.

Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, combine the lemon juice and demerara sugar. When the cake comes out of the oven, pour this mixture onto the cake.

Allow to cool for about half an hour, then cut into slices and put onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy (with a nice cup of hot tea in this weather!).