Lemon and Almond cake with Raspberries

It was another gloomy day on Tuesday and the young boys of the family I work for were desperate to go to the beach and play in the sea, so they all went off to Cannes and I had the place to myself. I decided to make a cake for tea time when they returned as I had seen a nice recipe for a summery sponge cake with berries baked into the top. I love almond cakes so I found a sponge cake recipe and swapped the flour for ground almonds, to my amazement it actually worked so maybe I am a cake scientist in the making?

225g soft butter

225g caster sugar

225g ground almonds

4 medium eggs

1 lemon zested and juiced

1 heaped tsp baking powder

berries, frozen or fresh

Heat the oven to 180c and butter the inside of your cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until pale and creamy, add the lemon zest and juice then slowly add the eggs one at a time, still with the electric mixer, it may look like its curdled but thats normal.

Mix the ground almonds and baking powder together and fold in using a large spoon until everything is smooth.

If you have frozen berries let them defrost before making the cake and then get rid of the juice that comes out as it will make the cake soggy, sprinkle on some icing sugar and spoon into the base of the cake tin.

I used fresh raspberries and heated them in a pan for a second with a tsp of water and a tablespoon of icing sugar until it had dissolved.

Spoon the cake mixture into the tin on top of the berries and bake in the oven for around 40 mins to an hour, depending on your oven you may need to turn it down to 160c if the cake looks like its getting too brown. To test if its ready insert a skewer and if it comes out clean its ready.

Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool and serve with créme fraîche and summer berries.

River cafe polenta, almond and lemon cake

This week has been a bit up and down with the weather, lots of rain and then an absolute scorcher yesterday in the 30˚s. Yesterday was an especially good day because not only did I get a little bit less pasty but I also stood up on my surfboard about 10 times!! I did almost die about twice getting absolutely smashed by waves and ended up with my hair looking a bit like a loo brush but very happy!! Since the weather has been crappy I made a huge cake, and I think this could be my newest most favourite cake I have ever made. I have been trawling through my River cafe books and there is so much amazing stuff so since I have all kinds of great ingredients on my door step I am going to go nuts and try loads this month. Serves 12 450g unsalted butter, softened 450g caster sugar 450g ground almonds 2 teaspoons good vanilla essence 6 free range eggs zest of 4 lemons juice of 1 lemon 225g polenta flour or fine semolina 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of salt Preheat the oven to ...

Roast chicken and three rice salad

Another Ottolenghi salad which is really damn good, I just made this for 30 people which I'm not going to lie was a massive faff but if your making it for a normal amount of people it shouldn't be too bad. It's stuffed with all kinds of ingredients and has a warm asian flavour, perfect to take as a picnic salad. serves 8 1 small whole chicken 200g basmati rice 50g wild rice 50g brown rice 1 large onion, thinly sliced 6 spring onions, thinly sliced 4 mild red chillies, cut into thin strips small bunch coriander, chopped small bunch mint leaves, chopped large handful of rocket leaves, shredded salt pepper Dressing 65ml lemon juice 30ml sesame oil 30ml thai fish sauce 35ml olive oil Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Rub chicken with olive oil and season. Place in a roasting tin and put in the oven for 10 mins then lower the temperature to 190˚C and continue to roast for 50-60 mins until the chicken is cooked and juices run clear. Remove to cool and keep all the cooking juices for lat...

Fig, rocket and basil salad with goats cheese and prosciutto

This is the most simple salad to make and the combination of the basil, goats cheese, fig and prosciutto is amazing. Another nice thing to do is turn it into a canape by quartering the figs, putting a small dollop of goats cheese on, season, add a basil leaf and wrap in prosciutto. serves 5/6 as a Starter 1 bag Rocket 2 tubs of soft goats cheese/goats curd 1 Bunch of Basil 1 pack of Prosciutto/Parma ham 10 Figs For the dressing I just make a basic vinaigrette with a little bit of mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. And for the final touch you can either buy a bottle of balsamic reduction or make it yourself by boiling it in a pan until it becomes thicker, but still runny enough to squeeze through a bottle. Then do a swirl over and around the salad.

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