In case you haven’t noticed, summer is here. In England right now it’s hit the kind of temperatures we spend the whole year complaining we don’t get, and then the few days it does we say things along the lines of; ‘can’t function’ and ‘I’m not built for this kind of heat’ while we sit in the shade in a beer garden or lay on top of the covers at night. I decided to bake on what was the hottest day of the year so far, so all of these things were uttered in the first 5 minutes. In all fairness, I baked this cake at about 8am, when the full heat of day hadn’t hit, but the oven was happily sat there making up the difference as it pre-heated. I had decided to make something fit for summer and baked a White Chocolate & Raspberry Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream and Pistachios.
I don’t make large cakes all that often. Cake decorating just isn’t for me, don’t even get me started on fondant icing, as I generally get bored and rush it once the actual baking is all done. When I do it, I tend to keep it simple, and that’s the beauty of a cake like this, and the rough style that has become popular the last couple of years. I’m all about keeping it rustic, with some basic frosting and a scattering of something on top. This cake is covered with crushed pistachios and blue cornflowers, and there are fresh raspberries with the frosting in the middle.
*Disclaimer* I have a habit of winging buttercream a bit until it just comes together so you may want to play fast and loose with the quantities a little for that.
- **For the Cake**
- 200g unsalted butter, chopped into small cubes, plus extra for greasing
- 100g white chocolate, broken into pieces
- 4 large eggs
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g self-raising flour
- 175g raspberries, fresh or frozen
- **For the Buttercream**
- 100g white chocolate
- 150g unsalted butter, softened
- 200g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Full fat milk (potentially a splash)
- **For decoration**
- 20g pistachios, roughly chopped or crushed
- Cornflowers, for scattering
- Preheat your oven to 180°C(160°C fan assisted) then grease and line two 20cm cake tins.
- Melt the butter with the chocolate slowly in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir continuously until it's all melted and combined.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- On a medium setting, whisk in the eggs and sugar, followed by the flour and then finally the raspberries.
- Once it has *just* combined, divide evenly between the prepared tins and place in the center of your pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- **For the frosting**
- Melt the white chocolate, using the same method as above.
- Beat the softened butter with the sieved icing sugar until creamy.
- Add the white chocolate and vanilla and continue to beat on a high speed whipping the frosting until it's white and creamy. I added a splash of full fat milk to get it to the right consistency, but you may not need to do so.
- **To assemble**
- Cut the domes off of both layers.
- Pipe an outer edge onto the bottom layer and spread a good thick layer of buttercream. Sprinkle with small pieces of chopped raspberries if you have any left.
- Place the top layer gently on top and roughly cover the top.
- Scatter with the crushed pistachios and cornflowers, if using.
- Serve with a gin & tonic.