Almond and Raspberry Cake

Long live The Crimbo Limbo…

The Crimbo Limbo, Twixtmas… whatever you call it, the gap between Christmas and New Year’s a bit of a weird one, isn’t it? I used to hate it as a kid; even though there’s still the New Year celebrations to come, Christmas is officially over. All the presents around the tree are gone, the family and friends who’ve come to stay are gone too and there’s about half the Sainsbury’s Cheese Counter and a Turkey carcass shoved into the fridge. It always felt a little sad to me as a kid, but now? I LOVE IT. Fridge full of cheese? Um, yes please. Enough leftovers to save me cooking for a week? Banging. A Bond film on the TV every night? Don’t mind if I do. Cake for breakfast? Why the hell not.

It’s the one time of year where adulting officially goes out the window and – even better – nobody’s going to think any less of you for it or worry that you’ve gone a bit mad. Brilliant! I was tempted to just whack my coat on over my Christmas PJs to take Bungle for his walk this morning, but changed my mind at the last minute. You’ve got to draw the line somewhere, I guess, and for me that line falls somewhere between the neighbours seeing me in my jammies and scoffing cake for breakfast. Specifically, this Almond and Raspberry Cake – which I whipped up last minute on Christmas Eve and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a total winner. It’s pretty enough to decorate a festive table, moist enough to last through the limbo, and slightly sour enough to be a fresh change when you’ve dipped into the tub of chocolates a few too many times. Eat it warm with fresh cream or cold for breakfast, that’s totally up to you – I won’t tell! 😉

Almond and Raspberry Cake

Method

1. Set your oven to 170° and grease a 20cm open bottom cake tin.  Sprinkle with a little flour and then set aside.
2. In your mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Stir in the egg.
3. In a separate bowl sift together most of the dry ingredients; that’s the flour, ground almonds and salt.  Combine with the wet ingredients to make a very dry batter (don’t worry, it’ll come together during the next step!).
4. Stir in the milk.
5. Pour the batter into your cake tin and smooth over the surface.  Arrange the raspberries (hole down) on top, staring in the middle and working your way out to the edge.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, scatter with flaked almonds and powdered sugar and then serve up with cream. 🙂

Hope you’re having a lovely Crimbo Limbo/Twixtmas!