Spiced Raspberry and Pimms Cake

 

A colleague celebrated her 50^th birthday on Monday, so I had to come up with a cake worthy of the celebration! As it’s been so hot here the last few weeks, I decided to avoid anything too rich and chocolaty and stick to something light and fruity instead. I saw a recipe for spiced raspberry cake a while ago, but it used plain flour and cinnamon, so to keep it lighter (and cinnamon free!) here’s my adaptation of this beautiful summery cake! You’ll notice that I ran out of chocolate fingers… I only brought two boxes, so a third is definitely needed to make sure there are no gaps! And I know, I'm a messy cook...

Ingredients:
For the sponge:
250g pack butter, softened
250g caster sugar
5 large eggs
4 tbsp buttermilk
450g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground ginger
3 cardamom pods, shelled and ground


For the filling and frosting:
200g raspberry jam
100g raspberries, plus extra to decorate
60g butter
250g icing sugar
2tbsp Pimms
3 boxes white chocolate fingers

Preheat your oven to 170c and grease/line two loose bottomed cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Crack the eggs into the bowl and add the buttermilk. Mix until just combined, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.

Tip in the mixed spice, ginger and cardamom and beat well, getting as much air into the mixture as possible.

Divide the mixture between the two cake tins, pushing it up to the edges and flattening the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the sponge is golden, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove the sponges from the tin while still warm, a slice each sponge in half so you have a total of four layers; two that are slightly rounded on top where they have risen, and two that will be completely flat.

In a small bowl, mix the raspberries and the raspberry jam together, mashing some of the raspberries and leaving some whole.

To assemble the cake, place one of the slightly rounded layers upside down (rounded side down) on to your plate/board, and cover the top with a third of the raspberry jam mix. Place the other half of that sponge on top, and cover that with another third of the jam mix. Next add the second rounded layer, upside down, and cover that with the rest of the jam mix. Lastly, add the final layer, flat side up, so you have a nice flat surface on top.

Now to compress the layers – take one of your cake tins, turn it upside down, and place it on top of the four layers, like a hat. Place a few full tins/jars on top, and leave for about 3 hours.

This compresses the layers so the juice from the raspberries is pushed into the sponge, and it makes a nice flat, smooth cake that’s easier to decorate.

To make the frosting, beat the butter in a small bowl until it’s soft and creamy. Mix in the icing sugar, a few spoonfuls at a time, until it makes a thick but spreadable frosting. Add the Pimms and mix in well.

Spread about a third of the frosting onto the top of the cake using a palette knife, and then use the rest to cover the sides.

Push the chocolate fingers into the frosting all around the side of the cake, and then add any extra raspberries to the top.