Even the children were impressed by this unusual summer cake! The cardamom is distinctive without overwhelming the lovely summer flavours of raspberries and almonds.
I admit, I took a couple of shortcuts here. All hail to the master bakers who grind up their almonds and seed their own cardamom pods. I’m afraid I considered this way too much hassle, particularly after over-toasting the first batch of almonds and having to throw them away. So I used ground almonds and found it quite delicious all the same. I did pod and grind the cardamom seeds; I’ve listed the outcome in the ingredients here if you wish to cheat.
I like the idea of splitting the almond mixture early to create a crumb base – it simplifies the ingredients and prep greatly, and keeps it effortlessly gluten-free. The base of ours was a teensy bit flimsy but we’re having oven problems so the jury’s out.
The author Thomasina Miers claims this only takes 5 mins prep. It took me about that just to line the tin! I found about 15 mins prep a more reasonable estimate.
We’ll definitely make this one again! What a delicious way to use raspberries.
Ingredients
- 125g butter, softened, plus more for greasing
- 350g ground almonds
- 225g soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 250g Greek-style yoghurt
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom OR 6 cardamom pods, seeded and the seeds ground with a pestle and mortar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp rosewater
- 225g raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 25g flaked almonds
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Method
- Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Butter a 23cm loose-bottom tin and line it with a double sheet of greaseproof paper.
- Beat the butter until light and pale, then stir in the sugar, almonds and salt. Spread half this mixture over the bottom of the tin.
- Lightly whisk the eggs and beat them into the remaining cake batter.
- Mix the rosewater into the yoghurt, then add this into the cake batter with the cardamom, baking powder and rosewater. Mix well.
- Pour this into the tin, then scatter the raspberries evenly over the batter, allowing them to sink in.
- Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and caster sugar.
- Bake for 60-70 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. The mix will still be a little soft, but it will firm up as it cools.
- Serve with creme fraiche or whipped cream.
