Recipe: Raspberry & Rose Cake

This recipe is the perfect sweet treat for Mother’s Day and easy enough for the kids to help make.

The rosewater in the icing can be bought from any supermarket and gives the cake a heady fragrance of roses and the subtle taste of Turkish delight.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 225g softened butter
• 225g golden castor sugar
• 275g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 medium eggs
• 4 tbsp milk
• 300g fresh raspberries

For the icing:

• 250g icing sugar
• 1½ tbsp rosewater
• 1-2 tbsp water
• Pink food colouring

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

2. Lightly grease a tray bake tin and line with greaseproof paper.

3. Add all the cake ingredients except the raspberries into a bowl and beat for two minutes using a stand or hand mixer.

4. Gently fold the raspberries into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the tin, making sure it’s spread into all the corners.

6. Bang the bottom of the tin gently on the table a couple of times to knock out any air bubble.

7. Cook for 35-40mins, until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

8. Leave the cake in the tin until completely cool.

9. Put the icing sugar in a bowl and add the rosewater and a few drops of the food colouring.

10. Stir, adding the water a little at a time until you get a thick icing that can be poured but isn’t so runny that it runs off the cake. If you want the icing a bit darker you can add more food colouring.

11. Remove the cake from the tin [but leave the greaseproof paper on to catch the drips] and pour the icing onto the top of the cake, gentle spreading with a palette knife or back of a spoon if there are any gaps. 

12. Leave to the icing to set, and then cut the cake into squares.