Raspberry, cardamom and almond cake

Even the children were impressed by this unusual summer cake! The cardamom is distinctive without overwhelming the lovely summer flavours of raspberries and almonds.

I admit, I took a couple of shortcuts here. All hail to the master bakers who grind up their almonds and seed their own cardamom pods. I’m afraid I considered this way too much hassle, particularly after over-toasting the first batch of almonds and having to throw them away. So I used ground almonds and found it quite delicious all the same. I did pod and grind the cardamom seeds; I’ve listed the outcome in the ingredients here if you wish to cheat.

I like the idea of splitting the almond mixture early to create a crumb base – it simplifies the ingredients and prep greatly, and keeps it effortlessly gluten-free. The base of ours was a teensy bit flimsy but we’re having oven problems so the jury’s out.

The author Thomasina Miers claims this only takes 5 mins prep. It took me about that just to line the tin! I found about 15 mins prep a more reasonable estimate.

We’ll definitely make this one again! What a delicious way to use raspberries.

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened, plus more for greasing
• 350g ground almonds
• 225g soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 250g Greek-style yoghurt
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom OR 6 cardamom pods, seeded and the seeds ground with a pestle and mortar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp rosewater
• 225g raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 25g flaked almonds
• 1 tbsp caster sugar

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Butter a 23cm loose-bottom tin and line it with a double sheet of greaseproof paper.
2. Beat the butter until light and pale, then stir in the sugar, almonds and salt. Spread half this mixture over the bottom of the tin.
3. Lightly whisk the eggs and beat them into the remaining cake batter.
4. Mix the rosewater into the yoghurt, then add this into the cake batter with the cardamom, baking powder and rosewater. Mix well.
5. Pour this into the tin, then scatter the raspberries evenly over the batter, allowing them to sink in.
6. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and caster sugar.
7. Bake for 60-70 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. The mix will still be a little soft, but it will firm up as it cools.
8. Serve with creme fraiche or whipped cream.