As we head into summer I like to incorporate seasonal fruit into my bakes, plus it makes me feel slightly better about eating the cake when it has fruit in… just me? This is a really easy recipe, which can be done in stages or all at once. Once you have done the recipe a few times you will probably find you can get the loaf in the oven in no time – perfect for when you have little ones, or even if not – saving you time to do things I can only dream of now… like go to the toilet in peace, have a nice long hot shower without frantically checking the baby monitor and turning the shower off to listen for screams or even read a book…anyway… on to the bake!
Ingredients:
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 large eggs
- 180g self raising flour
- 1.5 tsp vanilla essence
- 1.5tsp baking powder
- 150g raspberries
- 80g desiccated coconut
- 70ml milk (I use semi-skimmed)
For decorating (optional):
- 3 heaped tblsp icing sugar
- 2 tblsp water
- Dried flowers – I used dried rose petals
- 1/2 tblsp desiccated coconut
- Handful of raspberries
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C conventional
- Grease and line a loaf tin – mine is 9.5 x 5 inch.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy – this may take a while, anything up to 5-6 minutes. I tend to have the mixer going whilst I’m pottering around the kitchen preparing the next ingredients and weighing them out/sifting the flour.
- Add the eggs and just give a quick mix, so almost just a few pulses of the mixer. Until the eggs are just combined.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until well combined.
- Add in the vanilla essence and milk and mix again until combined.
- Now stir through the desiccated coconut.
- Pour the cake mix into the baking tin.
- Spread the (washed) raspberries evenly over the cake mix, as shown below.
- Now gently press them into the mix so they are just submerged into the cake mix. Most of the raspberries still sink to the bottom but I quite like that gooey fruity layer at the bottom.
- Bake for approximately 55 minutes, but check from 45 minutes as ovens do differ. Once a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, it is ready to come out of the oven.
- Cool in the tin.
- Once cooled, remove to a cooling rack or onto whichever plate/dish you will be serving the cake on.
- To make the icing – simply mix 3 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar with 2 flat tablespoons of water. Mix well and then drizzle over the top of the loaf.
- I then sprinkled dried rose petals, 1/2 tablespoon of desiccated coconut and a few raspberries on top.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe, if you have don’t forget to comment below or tag me on Instagram #blearyeyedbaker
Carly
