Raspberry Layer Cake

Raspberry Layer Cake

Chocolate, life wouldn’t quite be the same without it really. However I realised every time I think of baking a cake I instinctively think about using chocolate in some way so my challenge this time was to bake something different. I had a good opportunity to do some baking as it was my boyfriend’s birthday a couple of weeks ago and after the crunchy sugary chocolate mess that I baked for him last year I think he was a little relieved when I informed him I was making something a little lighter and fruiter in flavour.

I couldn’t decide what fruit to go for at first, debating whether to try passion fruit or lychee however in the end I loved the look of this raspberry layered cream cake and wanted to give it a go. Plus the fact it has amaretto in led to it being a winning choice.

The recipe is actually very easy to make and doesn’t call for hardly any preparation time at all. I added vanilla essence to my mixture just to give it that extra sweetness. The only problem I had was not evening out my mixture as well as I probably should’ve and therefore the sponges came out a little lopsided. I tried to retify this when cutting each sponge in half but I can admit it’s not the most symmetrical cake. However thankfully the flavour made up for what it lacked in appearance and the majority of it was eaten which is always a good sign, although I think a lot of it got eaten after a few cocktails in the hope of soaking it up!

 Ingredients

For the Cake

Method

1. Heat oven to 190c/fan 170c/gas 5. Butter 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line with some parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together all the cake ingredients until you have a smooth, soft mixture.
2. Spoon the mixture equally into the two tins, ensuring the mixture is balanced out and smooth on top. Bake in the oven for 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when gently pressed. Turn the cakes onto a cooling rack.

3. Heat the sugar, 2 tbsp water and Disaronno together until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool, about 10 mins. Use a large knife to cut each cake in half. Brush the syrup all over all four pieces of cake with a pastry brush.

4. For the filling, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Beat the mascarpone and caster sugar in a large bowl to loosen, then fold in the cream and mix together until smooth.

5. Spoon a third of the cream mixture over one of the cake halves. Scatter over some of the fruit, then sandwich another half on top

6. Spread with cream and fruit as before and top with another half of cake and more cream and berries.

7. Lay the final cake half on top.

8. Gently press down, then wrap tightly in cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.

Raspberry Layer Cake