Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

I think this may well be the most perfect cake I have made. Hurray!

I cooked this cake in my lovely new non stick brownie pan, to get little squares of cake all neat and tidy. Yes I am weird.

I have made this cake before with blackberries and it was good then, but this time I spent a bit more time whisking to get a light fluffy batter, I had a nice cake tin and my oven was behaving.

I am a big fan of buttermilk in cakes, it stops any cake from becoming dry, and makes it easier to mix.
I also swapped out half the sugar for honey instead, which didn't affect the flavour (in fact I think all sugar would have been too sweet) and makes it a teeeeny bit healthier (ish).You will also notice that this cake only has 50grams of butter in it!

This cake is very versatile, as I mentioned I have made it with blackberries before, you can swap out the raspberries for any small soft fruit - blueberries, strawberries-  maybe even some small plums halved. I might even give it a go with rhubarb as our plant has gone a bit huge! You could even use the cake mixture as a base for a nice chocolate chip cake - oooh now there is an idea! Anyway I am going off on a tangent here...

I made these with some sweet local raspberries from my local market, they are nearly at the end of the season now and this cake is a lovely last wave to the summer fruits.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen & Gourmet

50 grams of unsalted butter (1 stick)
75g of caster sugar (1/3 cup)
75g honey (1/3 cup)
1 large free range egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of half a lemon - optional
1/4 teaspoon of salt
130grams of self raising flour (1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
110ml buttermilk (1/2 cup) - you can make buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar to cream or milk, leave for 10 minutes before adding.
150g fresh raspberries (1cup)

Cream together your butter, sugar and honey - in a mixture or using an electric whisk is best - til light and fluffy. Add in your egg and whisk to combine. Then add in your vanilla and zest and combine again.

Then alternately add in your flour and buttermilk, adding a small amount of each, combining and adding the next. Have your mixer on a medium setting and your whisk on a medium too.

Once nicely incorporated spoon the mixture into a 9 inch round or square cake in, non stick or lined with paper. Then lay your raspberries on top, I started off trying to be nice and neat but then by the time I tried to squish all the berries in it was a bit more messy!

Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and optionally you can also drizzle on some honey.


Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on to a board and then on to a plate.

UPDATE: I made this again a few days later with Rhubarb (yes we ate the raspberry one really quickly) and it was really good. I cut 2 sticks of rhubarb in to small chunks, sprinkled it with 1 tbsp sugar and let it sit for a 5 minutes then scattered over the top of the cake and baked in the oven as normal. I also added some ground ginger to the batter, yum!

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Blueberry & Coconut Boy Bait

I've been hearing about boy bait for a while from smitten kitchen, domestic sluttery and some lovely twitter friends including alice of Snap Dragon Beads.

Such a cute name for a cake, I mean it is really just a cake but if you call it boy bait then everyone wants to makeit -  Especially if it has blueberries in. And then I went all out and replaced the buttermilk with some lovely coconut milk instead.

This cake is super easy to make, moist, sugary and has the best name ever.
The coconut flavour only comes through slightly, but it makes up for that by adding moistness and sweetness.
I think I'll add a few tablespoons of desiccated coconut next time.


Blueberry & Coconut Boy Bait - adapted from Domestic Sluttery

125g of brown sugar
1/2 tbsp salt
125g unsalted butter
125g of self raising flour
2 eggs
1 150ml mini tin of coconut milk (these are readily available in most supermarkets, and very handy)
1 punnet blueberries - approx 125g

for topping:
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp cinamonn
handful of blueberries

Heat oven to gas mark 4 / 350f / 180c.

Cream together the butter and the sugar, then add in your eggs one at a time, combining each time before adding the next.
Add in the flour slowly and then pour in the coconut milk. Stir to combine and then add in the blueberries and the salt.
Pour into a 9 inch round or square cake in. Top with the rest of the blueberries, cinnamon and sprinkle over the sugar generously.
Bake in the oven for 50 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.
Dust with icing sugar, slice and transfer to your mouth!

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Guest blogging - Walden Local Food

I have been doing a little bit of guest blogging over on the lovely Walden Local Food , check out the site for a scrummy recipe for raspberry fool and shortbread biscuits.

Walden Local Food is a community interest company that promotes local and organic food. They run a fabulous sunday market which sells fruit and vegetables sourced from only a 40 mile radius of Saffron Walden.

If you are in the area please visit them, this time of year they have some real gems on their stall. I picked up some raspberries for this recipe and some beetroot for a rich soup. Everything is fresh and local!

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Weekend in pictures

Black Forest gateau, Mr's birthday cake :)
recipe adapted from here, I used a lot less cream though!

Second haul of fresh cherries for black forest gateau

Dunes and seafront at Walberswick

Sweet red gooseberries (you can eat these raw, unlike their sharp green counterparts) and little blackcurrants. Bought from a little cart at the side of the road, with an honesty money box.

We had a lovely Sunday in Suffolk, spent some time walking on the beach and then a drink in a local pub on the way back - which had ales made just around the corner! I do like the Suffolk countryside, and its just on our doorstep.

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