Our mouth-watering Raspberry and White Chocolate Cake, baked to perfection in the Mary Berry 20cm Sandwich Tins, is the ideal weekend treat. Bursting with fruity raspberry flavours and adorned with beautiful crystallised flowers and fresh raspberries, it's sure to make your loved ones feel extra special. Many thanks to AGA Specialist Dawn Roads for this lovely recipe.
2 x Mary Berry 20cm Sandwich Tins, buttered and base lined
225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 large eggs, beaten
300g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g white chocolate chips
175g fresh raspberries, cut into quarters
Filling and icing:
200g white chocolate, good quality
150ml double cream
Decoration:
Fresh raspberries
Freeze dried raspberries, optional
Meringue kisses
Fresh or crystallised edible flowers (not ones that have been sprayed with insecticide!) such as primroses, violets or violas
Icing sugar
Method
1. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour at the end to avoid curdling. Fold in the flour, white chocolate chips and raspberries. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins.
2. Place the cake tins on the oven grid shelf placed on the baking oven (or oven on B4 setting) floor for 30-35 minutes, until the cakes have risen, golden and cooked.
3. Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes then remove them from the tins and place them on a cake cooling rack to go completely cold.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling and icing, a white chocolate ganache. Place the white chocolate chips into a bowl with 100ml of the double cream. Melt together on the simmering plate or hotplate on simmering setting. When melted remove from the heat, beat together and cool for 15 minutes, then beat in the rest of the cream. This icing is easy flowing and will benefit being refrigerated for an hour before using.
5. Sandwich the cakes together with half the ganache, raspberries and spread the other half on the top. Decorate with raspberries, meringue kisses and the flowers (if desired). Sift over icing sugar just before serving.
Tips:
• Frozen raspberries could be substituted for fresh in the cake mixture.
CRYSTALLISED EDIBLE SPRING FLOWERS
1. To make the decoration, choose some spring flowers such as primroses, violets or violas. Always check that any flowers you use are edible and organic (i.e. no use of insecticides).
2. Brush lightly over the petals with some egg white – a small paint brush is the best – then dip into caster sugar and put to dry out in a warm place, next to the AGA is ideal or placed on a cooling rack on the warming plate.
