Black Currant Drizzle Cake

Saturday 2 July 2011







I think I baked my absolute most favourite cake of the year today! And, YES, that IS saying a lot!!




I picked up the August issue of Good Food Magazine yesterday on the strength of the picture on the cover alone . . . a lovely looking loaf cake covered with a sugared mixture of summer fruits, and studded throughout with the same. 


 Oh my but it looked some scrummy.









 I could not wait to make it. This week I discovered a Black Currant bush in our back garden. 


 I had seen this bush with the berries on it a few weeks back but had no idea of what they were until this week . . . one taste confirmed it . . . Black Currants! 


 Nom Nom!! I hadn't noticed them last year, probably because we were in Canada when they ripened. Our loss was the bird's gain!








We love Black Currants in this house. We really do. I even buy my cough sweets in Black Currant flavour! 


 When I saw this lovely recipe I knew exactly what fruit I wanted to use for the topping. You guessed it! Black Currants!








.Oh my . . . it is the most delicious cake. All buttery and moist, and studded with sweet yet tart black currants . . . 


and that sugared topping . . . double oh my . . . it is heavenly, pure bliss, sooooo scrumdiddlyumptiously moreish.








This cake is soooo good in fact . . . that I skipped supper tonight and had two slices of it instead . . . 


I know . . . I am a bad puddy tat! =^..^=









One taste and you'll know why . . . it is totally impossible to resist the scruminess of this delicious treat. 


 I can only imagine how good it would be with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.











Be still my heart! ♥♥♥ This was love at first bite! (Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine, August 2011) If you only bake one cake this season . . . let this be the one!!








Feel free to use any kind of summer fruit to make this cake.  Some tasty suggestions are:
  • diced apricots
  • blackberries
  • blueberries
  • diced nectarines
  • diced peaches
  • diced plums
  • raspberries
  • red or black currants
  • strawberries, diced if large
  • any mixture of the above fruits



Black Currant Drizzle Cake

Print
Black Currant Drizzle Cake
Yield: one (2LB) loaf
Author: Marie Rayner
prep time: 15 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 15 M
A delicious cake that is just right for taking on a picnic, or for a garden party or for just because!!

Ingredients:

  • 180g  of very soft butter (3/4 cup)
  • 150g  golden caster sugar (3/4 cup)
  • 210g self raising  (1 1/2 cups) sifted
  • 2 large free range eggs
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla
  • 6 ounces of black currants (about 2 cups)
  • 150g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
  • 2 TBS of fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 2 pound loaf tin and line with baking parchment, allowing the ends to drape over for easy removal.
  2. Put the butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl. Beat together with an electric whisk until pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Spread one third of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the black currants.. Dot another 1/3 of the batter over top of the currants. Spread over carefully. Sprinkle another 1/3 of the black currants over top. Finally spread with the remaining batter, reserving the remainder of the currants for after.
  3. Place into the heated oven and bake for about one hour, until risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven.
  4. Place the remainder of the currants in a bowl along with the granulated sugar. Add the lemon juice and stir in with a fork, lightly mashing the fruit just a bit.
  5. Take a skewer and poke holes all into the top of the cake. Spoon the fruit,sugar and juice mixture over top evenly. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. The top should be set and crisp. Cut into slices to serve. Eat within a few days. (So NOT a problem!!)
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen
Created using The Recipes Generator


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

49 comments

  1. This looks fabulous! Wish I was there to take a bite!

    Hugs,
    Susan and Bentley

    ReplyDelete
  2. The cake looks delicious! Hello, Laura

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marie, this looks wonderful! We don't have a blackcurrant bush in our garden but we DO have a redcurrant one and I'm always wondering what to make with them! I usually wash them with some stalks on and open freeze them, then use them for decoration on ice-cream, cheesecakes etc. This cake is a much better idea. The only thing is, the bush will be dug up soon to make way for a patio area, perhaps we can transplant it now that I have this recipe!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That looks gorgeous. I love blackcurrants but I have never been able to grow them or should I say harvest them as I encourage the birds to my garden and they don't understand they are not meant to eat these particular berries.;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks so lovely and summery.

    ReplyDelete
  6. when i saw this coming up I didn't stop tp comment on the almond tarts, I just came right here,, this is my kind of cake as well.I AM making this,, delicous.I'm sorry your dish washer didn't come, you would have thought they would call you instead of having you wait like that.We had a geat celebration,, looks like a lovely day today as well.Don't eat too much of the cake,, lol.It will be a hard job leaving that one alone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just brown sugar like we have here will do Marie? looks great ..I have blueberries..may do this this week for J.

    Made your potato salad today to bring with..
    Thank you as always for the great recipes..Have a great weekend~

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yummy! I'll be baking this for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Monique, don't use brown sugar. Use granulated white sugar or white caster sugar. Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  10. wish i could find some black currants!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The currants look just beautiful resting on the top of this cake. Congrats on making your favorite cake of the year so far!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This make me droll dear Marie you know, look amazing, huggs my dear,gloria

    ReplyDelete
  13. All these blackcurrant recipes appearing on blogs recently are making me envious. I will have to go and pick a few punnets up I think, this cake looks fab, perfect for afternoon tea ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Greetings from Stockholm - Thank you for the recipe! I saw the magazine on my iPad and hoped someone had been kind enough to post it :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. We bought some red and blackcurrants from a little stall outside someone's house - we live near to Folkestone- so we needed a recipe to use them - found yours on Sunday 10 July - we had twenty people coming for lunch / afternoon tea but decided anyway to go for it, even tho it hadnt been tried before - my sister who is staying with us from SA is an excellent baker, so I had faith! The cakes were a huge success - thank you!! Julie

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your black currant drizzle cake is amazing. I never know what to do with all my black currants after jam, ice cream, summer puddings so stockpile them in the freezer. Just so delicious!!

    Lizzie in Somerset

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you for this recipe! My husband says it is the nicest cake he has ever had! I think I'll be making it all blackcurrant season.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you for this recipe, mu husband says it is the nicest cake he has ever tasted!
    I guess I'll be making a few more while it's blackcurrant season.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can I replace butter with vegetable oil ?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Rabia as I have never done so, I would not like to say for sure that it would work out.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Rabia, I found this information about subbing oil for butter on the Nigella cooking site:

    In some cases it may be possible to switch between oil and butter in a cake recipe but it is not something we recommend. Butter adds a surprising amount of flavour to cakes, particularly vanilla or plain cakes. If oil were used instead the cake would taste bland and be much less appealing. Also if the cake is made by the creaming method - beating butter and sugar together and then beating in eggs - then oil is not a suitable substitute as it cannot be beaten to incorporate air and if oil is used the cake will be flatter and denser than the creamed version.
    Unsalted butter also contains roughly 80% fat, 18% water and 2% milk solids so even in cake recipes where the butter is melted you can't switch vegetable oil directly for butter as oil is 100% fat and the cake could become too greasy or heavy. You will need to use 80% of the weight of butter as oil and make up the difference with another liquid such as milk or sour cream.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Our blackcurrant season is just about to begin and I still have some from last year so I am going to try this cake as it looks delicious. Does this cake freeze so I can make this as well as jam with the new seasons!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Linda, I am sure you could freeze the cake. I am not sure about the topping, but you could just make a simple drizzle icing when you thaw the cake out and serve it with some of your black currant jam! xx

    ReplyDelete
  24. hi,

    I made this cake yesterday as our freezer is full of blackcurrants (and I want to make room for brambles!) I don't normally use butter for making cakes as (A) I find it difficult to work with (B) its expensive (C) I never remember to take it out of the fridge in time. but on this occasion I did use butter as we had almost run out of olive spread and for once I did actually take it out early to soften. I found the cake was difficult to make (see point A above!) as the cake mix was very thick and just formed a solid blob around the beaters on my mixer. Adding some milk helped a little bit. But in the end the cake is very good, like a Madeira cake with sharp blackcurrants to balance the rich sweet buttery-ness. Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I didn't have that problem Carolyn, but it is a thick batter which is why I suppose they suggest spreading it into the pan instead of pouring it in. That enables the fruit I suppose to stay where it is supposed to. It is a very good cake, but dense and Madeira (pound cake) like for sure. Glad that you persevered and were able to enjoy it! xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. Can this be made using a straight substitute of gluten free flour?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Having never done that myself, I cannot answer your question with any certainty Unknown. Sorry!

      Delete
  27. Super delicious cake.
    I made it for my dad's birthday as it be blackcurrant season in Suffolk.
    I threw in an extra egg, a good glug of milk and some water to lighten the dough as an experiment and the cake was completely demolished by the hungry hoards.
    Thanks Marie, I'll be making this again :)
    N

    ReplyDelete
  28. So happy it was enjoyed Nick! Thank you so much for taking the time to let us all know! Happy Birthday to your Dad! xo

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi. It's not clear if you cook the blackcurrants that go on top of the cake with the sugar and lemon juice. Can you explain for me please as I want to make this cake today. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sally, the currants are not cooked that go on top. They don't get crisp, but the sugar coating does. I hope you like this cake. We really like it a lot! You can also use other fruits. xo

      Delete
    2. Thanks Marie. Going to make it now.

      Delete
  30. I have this cake in the oven (blackcurrants from our two bushes in the garden) and the smell coming from the kitchen is heavenly! Can't wait to taste it! Thanks for the recipe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome Rebecca! You're in for a real treat!

      Delete
  31. I e got so many blackcurrants, I usually make wine or jam,thanks for an alternative goi g to bake this tomrrow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are in for a real treat! I also have a recipe for a delicious Blackcurrant Plate Pie on here. It's also quite delicious! This is the link: https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/black-current-plate-pie.html

      Delete
  32. Oh Marie, ignore my question (other than if you have a solution - maybe we cut it straight from the tin?)
    I did not read carefully enough....just noticed. What a dolt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No such thing as a bad question, however I am happy this was resolved for you!

      Delete
  33. Hi Marie. I thought I would tell you how my cake turned out. Delicious! And it came right out of the pan with a spatula after I cut the first piece out. I was so concerned about it being stuck (because I did not read the instructions about lining the tin) that I lathered on butter. Did the trick! Everyone loved it. When I can eat cake again, I will make it again. The only thing I would change other than using a liner, is putting more blackcurrants on top. The top looked a bit thin compared to your photos. Great recipe! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and share your exerience Dora! I am so pleased that you enjoyed it! xoxo

      Delete
  34. I was recently given some blackcurrants (I help out at a hedgehog rescue in Cornwall and one of the ladies who run it insisted I take them as she's too busy to do anything with them) I was very happy to find this delicious yet simple recipe - made 2 cakes so I could take one next time I was at the rescue as I wanted to share the harvest with them. It was very well received and and yes, it is lovely with vanilla ice cream 😉

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How wonderful! I love that you help out at a hedgehog rescue! I am sure they really appreciated you bringing in this cake! xoxo

      Delete
  35. Hello I just thought I would let you know I made this cake yesterday and my hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So pleased that you enjoyed this cake! Thank you for taking the time to comment! You are welcome! xo

      Delete
  36. Delicious. Found 2 pounds of blackcurrant on the bush yesterday and made this cake. So glad I saw this on facebook the other day. Thank You!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so pleased that you baked this cake and enjoyed it! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us! It is much appreciated! xo

      Delete

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear from you so do not be shy!


BEFORE LEAVING A COMMENT OR RATING, ASK YOURSELF:
Did you make the recipe as directed? Recipe results are not guaranteed when changes have been made.

Is this comment helpful to other readers? Rude or hateful comments will not be approved. Remember that this website is run by a real person.

Are you here to complain about ads? Please keep in mind that I develop these recipes and provide them to you for free. Advertising helps to defray my cost of doing so, and allows me to continue to post regular fresh content.

Thanks so much for your understanding! I appreciate you!