We totally love this gooseberry cherry cake. And I am sure you will love it too. The cake is soft, sweet yet a bit tart due to the berries/cherries, creamy and just wonderful. I made a huge baking tray of this for my husband to take to work shortly after his birthday. I rescued three pieces for me and the kids (and to take photos of course) but otherwise everything was gone quickly.
You can bake this as a round cake or double the recipe and bake it on a baking tray like I did. Normally one 26 cm round cake should be enough but it is very easy to double this for a bigger event. It’s easy to transport as well, just cover it with aluminum foil or kitchen foil and place it in the back of your car.
As the cake was so big I decided to cover half of it with gooseberries and half with cherries. The original recipe calls just for canned gooseberries, but of course, you can use whatever canned berries or fruit you like best.
The Amaretto liquor can be replaced with the same amount of juice from the canned berries. But it would be good to use Amaretto anyway, it does have a wonderful aroma and the quantity used is really safe even with children eating.
You will need two springforms (or two baking trays) and a convection oven to bake this in one go. Otherwise bake the batches of batter one after another.
- Ingredients for a 26 cm/ 10 inch round springform (double the quantities for a baking tray-sized cake)
- 200 g/ 7 oz butter, soft
- 200 g/ 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- 4 eggs
- 200 g/ 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 level teaspoons baking powder
- 20 ml Amaretto liquer
- 100 g/ 1 ½ cups sliced almonds
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 glass canned gooseberries or 1 glass canned cherries, drained weight about 200 g/7 oz (keep the juice)
- 1 packet vanilla pudding powder (40 g/1,4 oz)
- 4 leaves gelatine
- 400 g full-fat cream cheese
- juice from half a lemon
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (from an organic, unwaxed lemon)
- 50 g/ ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 250 ml/ 1 cup heavy cream
- Preheat the convection oven to 150 degrees Celsius/ 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter two 26 cm/ 10 inch round springforms and lay them with baking parchment cut to fit them. If you make the cake in a tray, butter two baking trays and cover them with baking parchment.
- If you make the cake in the tray make the batter in two batches, otherwise it will become difficult to mix everything properly.
- Mix together the soft butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until white and frothy. Add the eggs one by one mixing well in between.
- In another small bowl mix together the flour and the baking powder and add to the butter-sugar mixture one tablespoon at a time, while stirring at a low speed. Pour in the Amaretto (or juice from the canned berries) and stir gently to incorporate.
- Pour half of the batter in the prepared form and the other half in the other prepared form. Sprinkle each portion of batter with the sliced almonds and the extra sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Take the cakes out of the forms and leave to cool down completely on a wire rack.
- Drain the canned berries and save the juice. Place the juice in a small pot and bring to a boil. Meanwhile stir the pudding powder in a small bowl with 2 or 3 tablespoons cold water. When the juice starts to boil, take it off the heat and whisk in the pudding. Place back on the heat and bring to a boil again while whisking all the time. Remove from the heat, stir in the berries or cherries and leave to cool down a little. If you use two kinds of berries, than of course you will cook them separately.
- Place one cake on a cake plate and put a metal ring around it (a square thing for the cake baked on the baking tray). Pour the berries on top and level. Let them get completely cold before adding the rest.
- When the berries are cold, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 10 minutes or according to the packet's instructions. Mix together the cream cheese, lemon juice and zest and the 50 g sugar.
- Squeeze the gelatine gently, place it in a pan (big enough to hold the mixture cream cheese as well) and dissolve it on a very small flame, stirring continuously. Do not let it boil or get too hot, it will only take seconds until the gelatine is dissolved so don't leave it unattended. Remove from heat, add one tablespoon from the cream cheese mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Add another tablespoon of the mixture and incorporate completely again. Repeat until all the cream cheese mixture is incorporated.
- When the mixtures STARTS to thicken, whip the heavy cream, than fold it in carefully.
- Pour this mixture on top of the berries and level nicely. Cover with the second cake, press it down gently and place the cake in the fridge for several hours, ideally overnight.
- Remove the metal ring before serving and slice the cake. You can sprinkle it with some icing sugar if you like.
2 comments
Yammy
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