Mum's Jubilee Cake

There was much jubilation in my house in July, so this cake was the perfect choice for my mum's birthday. This recipe is taken from the BBC Good Food website and like the description says, it is 'a wonderful cake for special occasions' - and it is, don't get me wrong! But with every cake, you want to add your own personal touch, or rather the personal touch of the celebrant. So with this cake, I replaced the frosted rose petals with flaked almonds, because I just knew that my mum would prefer that. It was also a good choice texture wise as soft cake with soft berries and soft cream will feel, well, soft! So the crunch of the almonds is good to cut that. Another thing I would change when I make it again, is add in more almond extract. The recipe says to add 'a few drops', so I just added a cap-full. Unfortunately, this didn't bring out any almond flavour. There are also ground almonds in this recipe, however, my mum and I were still not able to taste it. Maybe we just eat too many almond cakes, but next time, I will be adding half a teaspoon of almond extract. Overall, this is a pleasant cake, it was very light and airy, and that's due to the egg whites being folded in separately, so you can easily eat your two slices and still have your birthday disco party.

The first thing I did in this recipe was cream very soft butter and sugar together. 

I left the mixer on for around a minute until everything was pale and creamy.

Then with the mixer on, I added the yolks of the four eggs that I had separated. 

Next, I sifted in the flour and baking powder. I normally avoiding sifting, because even though it probably adds 30 seconds more to the job, it's 30 seconds I really can't be bothered with. However, this recipe is all about the light and airy, so I had to keep with this, sifting the flour. 

But I do love how it lands like a blanket of fresh snow on the batter. 

Keeping up with the light and airy, this was folded gently together with a large metal spoon until all the flour was mixed in. The whole point of folding is to add air into your batter, and not to knock air out of it. If I was to use the mixer or just mix in normally, it would be too vigorous and knock out all the air. This will mean less bubbles forming while baking, producing a dense, heavy cake. The action of folding is moving the spoon around and through, sort of like the number '8', but I do a bit of a backwards '6'. It takes a bit of time but that's because you want to be gentle with the air. 

To this I folded in the ground almonds and the cap-full of almond extract. 

It was then time for me to reunite the egg whites with the egg yolks. 

I whisked the egg whites until they were just able to hold their shape. 

Once again, I had to fold in these fluffy egg whites into the batter, but a third at a time. 

I made sure not to fold them in too much, because this will make the egg whites collapse. If you have a gentle and delicate hand, this is really the recipe for you!

The last thing to fold in (I promise) were the raspberries.

I divided the batter equally into two sandwich tins that had been buttered and lined with greaseproof paper. And I put them into a 180 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, they came out looking golden and gorgeous. I left them to cool completely. 

When the cakes had cooled, I sat the bottom layer onto a plate. 

On top of this, I spooned out a whole tub of clotted cream and used the back of the spoon to spread this out towards the edges.

Then I bejewelled this with some fresh raspberries. 

And sat the top layer upon this. 

I quickly made the icing by combining the icing sugar with a tablespoon and a half of cold water. I mixed this together until a thick, smooth and glossy paste formed. It looks a bit like glue, but in no way tastes or smells like it!

I drizzled some of this icing on the top layer of cake, letting it drip over the edges in an artistic style of my own. I didn't even end up using all the icing, just a few tablespoons. If you love icing, you can use all of it, but I don't like it so much, so will be making maybe a third of the original amount next time. 

The last thing to do, before all the icing set, was to sprinkle the flaked almonds all over the top. 

Another thing I like about this cake is the fact that it's not too sweet. It's like they know you're going to be having more than one slice and don't want you bouncing off the walls all hyper. Although there's quite a lot of folding going on here, it is worth it. You are left with the pleasure of eating an indulgent cake without that feeling of having eaten something very sweet and heavy. Just think of it as packing a suitcase to go on holiday: it will take longer to fold your clothes than just chucking them in a case, but on the plus side, you will be able to pack in more outfits. I say that's a fair compromise. 

Serves: 8-10 people

Prep Time: 20 minutes 

Baking Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

    

    For the Cake:

• 175g Butter, softened
• 175g Golden Caster Sugar
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 100g Self Raising Flour, sifted 
• 1tsp Baking Powder, sifted 
• 100g Ground Almonds 
• 1/2tsp Almond Extract 
• 4 Egg Whites, whisked 
• 125g Raspberries, fresh 

    For the Filling:

• 227g Cornish Clotted Cream 
• 125g Raspberries, fresh 

    For the Topping:

• 50g Icing Sugar
• 1/2-1tbsp Cold Water 
• 2-3 tbsp Flaked Almonds 

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Prep two sandwich tins by buttering them and lining the bases with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale in colour and creamy in texture. With the mixer on, add in the four egg yolks until they have been fully mixed in. 
3. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and using a large metal spoon, fold this in. Then fold in the ground almonds and almond extract. 
4. In another large bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are just firm enough to hold their shape. Take a third of the fluffy egg whites and fold this into the bowl with batter. Fold in the second third and then the last third. Make sure to do this very gently so that the egg whites do not collapse. 
5. Now fold in your raspberries into the cake batter. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake tins and slide them into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if they come out clean. If it doesn't, bake for a further 5 minutes and by then they should be ready. Leave them to cool completely before adding your filling. 
6. When ready to fill and decorate, place your bottom cake onto a stand or plate and spoon the clotted cream onto it. Spread this out with the back of a tablespoon. Then take raspberries and tumble them onto the clotted cream. Sit the final cake layer on top of this.
7. For the topping, mix the icing sugar and cold water in a small bowl until a smooth and glossy paste is formed. Drizzle this over the cake and quickly scatter the flaked almonds over on top before the icing sets. Cut into slices and serve.