Okay, well, long time no post, huh? Last post was in December last year and now it's July! This was a bit of an unexpected hiatus but a necessary one. I became swamped with work after the Christmas holidays as I did not do so well in my first term at school and needed to make it up. This got made worse by everyone getting sick or other things coming up which meant things were not getting done at reasonable times and ended up having to be done in a very short space of time. Very stressful. So much so that I ended up at the doctor's and have been given medication for anxiety, which I've always had but got worse these last couple of years. Fun fun fun. Anyway, the good news is that I did pass my probation year and I am a fully qualified teacher! Bad news is that currently I don't have a job after the summer. I didn't do so good in the interview as what I thought I was saying was not coming across. Ah well. I've just got to keep trying and see what comes up.
But we're not here to listen to me moan; we're here about cake! Hectic work life meant there was little time for baking in the last few months but when I was doing reports it was something I just had to make time for. Writing reports is so so dull and takes forever! I had to break it into smaller blocks per day and then even smaller ones after that. Baking was then fitted in between the blocks to keep me sane.
This looked like a nice, summery bake. I like baking with fruit, even if I am not keen to eat it. I also think it looks aesthetically pleasing too without being too complicated. I ended up making two of these; one for home and one for school. I bought a mixed box of fruit from Sainsbury's which had strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in. I then bulked it out a little with an extra tub of blueberries. I also decided I would zest up the cake with some lime in the batter rather than just using the juice in the drizzle. It worked really well. It is a really moist cake with a nice tang to offset the sweetness of the fruit. Both cakes were gobbled up very quickly.
And just before I let you have the recipe, I want to give a shout-out to my Hubby. One of the biggest tragedies of not baking much has been the lack of food photography I have gotten to do! Doubly so because that wonderful, sweet husband of mine gave me a DSLR camera for Christmas! I was so surprised and felt so spoilt. It has been so fun to use and takes such lovely pictures. I am still getting to grips with it but I think I did a pretty good job with these snaps!
Recipe - Adapted from BBC GoodFood
Makes a 2lb loaf cake
Cake:
- 175g/6oz butter
- 175g/6oz golden caster sugar
- 250g/9oz self-raising flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 2 limes
- 100g/3.5oz mixed summer fruits
- 75g/2.5oz mixed summer fruits
- 1-2tbsp lime juice
- 140g/5oz granulated sugar
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with butter. Line the base with a long strip of greaseproof paper so that the ends hang out over the sides of the tin (it will help you remove the cake from the tin later).
- In a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, lime zest and vanilla extract until the batter is smooth, pale and creamy. It will be very thick.
- Put a third of the mix into the cake tin then scatter half of the fruit over the top.
- Spread another third of the cake mix over the top and then scatter on the rest of the fruit.
- Finally top with the last of the cake mix and smooth over with a spoon.
- Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Put the fruit and sugar for the drizzle in a bowl with the lime juice and stir together, mashing the fruit a little as you do.
- When you have removed the cake from the oven poke it all over with a skewer.
- Spoon the drizzle over the cake then leave inside the tin until the cake is cool and the topping is set.
- Use the strip of paper to help remove the cake from the tin.
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