Every so often, I stumble upon a recipe I rather fancy and I optimistically print it off, in the naïve hope that I will test it that weekend. Then, all kinds of exciting, unexpected things happen that weekend and my printed recipe – so full of promise – ends up hidden in a crumpled heap beneath a stack of newspapers.

Well, last weekend I spent some glorious quality time with my wonderful friends Sara, Liz and her 6-month-old daughter Honor (who is undoubtedly the most gorgeous, smiley, good-natured baby in the WORLD). Then I trundled home, shifted some papers and out dropped a tattered, long-forgotten printed recipe and I decided to give it a bash.  I know – I am, like, SO spontaneous. I’ve made some changes, partly due to a shortage of raspberries in my Sainsbury’s Local at 8pm on a Sunday…

I stupidly forgot to add the milk to my version but I’d recommend you include it.  Aside from the change in texture to the finished result, spreading the stiff-ish cake batter without it is a bit of a bugger.

150g fresh raspberries
120g fresh blackberries
2tbsp cornflour
3tbsp cold water
200g unsalted butter
200g golden caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
250g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
4tbsp whole milk

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Keeping five or six good-looking raspberries aside, fork-mash the rest in a bowl and the blackberries in a separate bowl until they release lots of their juice and colour. Put two small saucepans on a medium-low heat and drop 1 tbsp cornflour and 1½ tbsp cold water in each. Mix until smooth, then drop the mashed raspberries in one and mashed blackberries in the other. Heat gently for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until the mixtures start to thicken. Pour back into the two bowls and set aside.

Raspberries & blackberries: whole

Raspberries & blackberries: forked

Raspberries & blackberries: saucing

Raspberries & blackberries: sauced

Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and yolk a bit at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. You should end up with something light and almost mousse-like in consistency. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix gently until just combined. Finally, add the milk and give a last gentle beat.

Line the base of a loaf tin with baking paper (you’ll notice that I do this the laziest possible way, but it enables me to use the overlapped bits to lift the cake out of the tin easily). Cover the base of the tin with a layer of cake batter, then splodge a good spoonful of each berry sauce on top, spreading it a little bit.

Splodging

Repeat this layering process, making sure you distribute the berries so that each slice will get a bit of each flavour, and finishing with a layer of cake batter. Use a skewer to swirl the batter around a bit, going in all directions including up and down. Half-bury your good-looking raspberries in the surface of the batter (not quite as deep as I did) then scatter a spoonful of golden caster sugar over the top.

Rippled

Sprinkled

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then serve with a good cup of tea.

Baked

Raspberry & Blackberry Ripple Cake