Credit: Tilly’s Table
(serves 8-10)
Combining two of my favourite summer flavours – raspberries and peaches – along with whipped cream for good measure, this cake is the perfect finish to a long lunch or balmy summer dinner. Don’t be put off by the number of steps – nothing about this cake is complicated, I promise. Make the raspberry curd and baked peaches the day before and it will be even more of a doddle to put together.
Raspberry curd filling:
125g fresh raspberries (1 punnet)
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
30g unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
300ml thickened cream
Baked peaches:
6 medium sized peaches
4 tbsp pure maple syrup
Cake:
250g self-raising flour
1/8 tsp bicarb soda
¼ tsp salt
275g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
250ml buttermilk, at room temperature
125g butter, melted and cooled
To serve:
125g fresh raspberries, extra
Gold leaf, optional
Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C (fan-forced).
To make raspberry curd, mash half the punnet of raspberries with a fork and place in a medium heat-proof bowl along with caster sugar, lemon juice, softened butter and egg. Whisk to combine and place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring regularly for 3-4 minutes or until curd has thickened. Remove from heat, cover surface of curd directly with cling wrap and refrigerate until cold.
Prepare peaches by cutting into quarters and removing stones. Place in a single layer in a baking dish and drizzle with maple syrup. Toss to combine and place in preheated oven to bake for 20 minutes. Give the peaches a gentle stir to coat in syrup and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until soft and starting to colour. Allow to cool slightly before gently slipping the skins from the peach quarters and discarding. Place peaches back into the tray of syrup and allow to cool.
Now for the cake. Lower oven temperature to 160°C (fan forced) and grease and line 2 x 20cm round tins with baking paper.
Place self-raising flour, bicarb soda, salt and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and stir briefly to combine.
In a separate bowl, place eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and melted butter, whisking lightly to combine. Pour wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry and mix on low until smooth. Increase speed to medium and beat for a minute or so, until the batter is lighter in colour and texture.
Divide batter evenly between the two cake tins, smoothing the surface with a spatula, and tapping the tins lightly on the bench a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes or until risen and cooked through. Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes in their tins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When cakes are cool, finish the curd filling by whipping thickened cream to soft peaks. Gently stir through cold raspberry curd and remaning half punnet of raspberries.
To assemble, place one of the cakes on a serving plate and top with half the raspberry curd filling. Layer half the baked peach quarters on top of the cream before gently sandwiching with the second cake. Top with remaining raspberry curd filling and baked peach quarters, before finishing with additional raspberries and gold leaf, if using.
Best eaten within a few hours of assembling or at least the day it is made, keep cake and any leftovers in the fridge (it will still be delicious the next day, but not quite as pretty).
For more on Tilly’s Table and to shop luxurious botanical linens and photographic prints see here.
