Rhubarb & Raspberry Cake

(AKA ‘Bish Bash Bosh’ cake 'Freezer Fruit Cake' or 'Yoghurt Cake')

In our house this cake has various names. But it’s my go-to recipe when I need a comforting slice of deliciousness with minimal effort and washing up, or something very transportable to take to a friend’s house or picnic!

I've realised recently I could also call it the 'Grief Cake' - as it has become the cake I make to leave on the doorstep of someone recently bereaved or going through a tough patch - because it's robust enough to keep you going when you can't face cooking and eating proper food, and as long as you wrap it in foil or keep it in a tin, it'll last for days.

It a simple, unpretentious sort of cake (though it can be fancied-up into a dessert served with yoghurt and fruit compote).

It takes 5 minutes to throw together and can be made with one bowl and one spoon (especially if you have a large microwave-proof bowl and can melt your butter in the same bowl you mix everything else into).

I love a cake recipe that is endlessly flexible and can be made with whatever fruit you have to hand. Though my favourite way is to use tart-tasting fruit like rhubarb or gooseberries – which I tend to keep ready-sliced in the freezer.

But I often make it with apple (either diced cooking apple from the freezer, or whatever fresh apples I have in the fruit bowl), or a combination of any frozen berries that need using up.

It is also delicious made with plums or pears – and if you’re going for a more ‘autumnal’ flavour, feel free to add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon or mixed spice.

You can also subsitute the self raising flour for wholemeal flour (with a teaspoon of baking powder added for lift) or Gluten Free Self Raising flour. The butter can be swapped for margarine, the yoghurt for sour cream or kefir, the caster sugar for literally any type of sugar you have.....it really is a most obligingly adaptable recipe!

Ingredients:

125g melted butter

125g natural greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

250g caster sugar

300g self raising flour (works with GF flour too)

300 g frozen (or fresh) fruit – eg chopped rhubarb, diced apple, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, chopped plums, gooseberries

optional topping: 2 tablespoons sugar, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method:

1.        Put the melted butter, yoghurt, vanilla, eggs and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and bash it about with a wooden spoon for 30seconds until everything is well mixed.

2.        Add the flour and fruit and mix just enough to combine – don’t over mix.

3.        Scrape the batter into a 20cm round cake tin lined with baking paper.

4.        Bake at 160 degrees C (fan) for 50-60 minutes (the time needed will depend on how chunky your fruit is, and whether it was frozen or fresh). Use a skewer to test – it should come out without any batter on it.

5.        If you want to make the cake extra tasty, as soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top, and then the juice of ½ a lemon which will melt the sugar and create a crisp, zesty topping!

6.        Leave to cool a little while before removing from the tin and slicing.

Enjoy!!

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