Red Berry Ripple Cake

Vanilla cake rippled with strawberry and raspberry coulis, topped with vanilla cream and fresh strawberries…heaven!

This recipe makes a little more coulis than you need for the cake, I suggest drizzling it over ice cream or spooning into a glass and topping with prosecco for a gorgeous red berry bellini!

Ingredients

For the Coulis

200g Strawberries, hulled

200g Raspberries

2 tablespoons Caster Sugar

For the Cake

75g Soft Butter

100g Caster Sugar

150g Plain Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

2 Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

150ml of the Red Berry Coulis

To Finish

300ml Double Cream

1 Vanilla Pod (or 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract)

2 tablespoons Icing Sugar

Approx. 200g Strawberries

• To make the coulis, tip the strawberries and raspberries into a small pan and sprinkle over the sugar.  Slowly heat up until they start to sizzle softly, shake the pan gently to move the fruit around as the juice slowly comes out.  Continue to bubble, swirling it around occasionally to dissolve the sugar then simmer for 5 minutes.  Pour the contents of the pan into a sieve placed over a bowl and press through with a spoon, you may have to sieve it twice to get all the seeds out.  Set the coulis aside to cool.
• Fully line a loose-bottomed cake tin (approx. 22cm diameter) with baking/greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 175C (fan).
• For the cake, put all the cake ingredients (except for the coulis) into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a mixer.  Whisk slowly at first to combine the ingredients then faster for a short time until creamy and paler in colour.  Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and spread out evenly.  Measure 150ml of the coulis and pour it in a swirl over the cake mixture then run a knife in circular movements through it to create the ripple effect.  Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden, firm and risen.  Leave to cool in the tin (it will sink a bit as it cools) then transfer carefully to a serving plate.
• To serve the cake, whisk the double cream with the seeds from the vanilla pod (or the vanilla extract) and the icing sugar until thick but not stiff.  Spoon it over the cooled cake and spread out then top with halved strawberries.