Raspberry buttermilk cake

It's been hot here recently - not as hot as  England has been, but enough to make our flat a little warmer than entirely comfortable, particularly with regards to sleeping. So, I've been a bit  reluctant to turn the oven on and further add to the heat. So about ten days ago I was debating whether to make this raspberry buttermilk cake from Smitten Kitchen or not - heat vs raspberry season. cake won. Let me tell you: it was well worth turning on the oven. 

The cake was straightforward to make using my Kitchenaid. It was a bit like the triple berry bundt cake. Mine took slightly longer to bake - I made it in a 8 inch tin, not a 9 inch one. The cake was delicious - it is also great warm. Mmm...

Happy baking! 

PS the recipe is here: 

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/05/raspberry-buttermilk-cake/

Not baking: espresso granita

So it's been really hot all over the Uk as summer finally arrives. I'm now dreaming of iced coffee and iced tea, so it seemed like a good time to make the espresso granita I saw a few weeks ago on Smitten Kitchen. 

We have a nespresso machine, so I used that to get my coffee for this. I used decaffinated as I'm trying to avoid caffeine at the moment. I also used demerara sugar (which I think is similar to turbinado sugar) because I prefer it over white sugar is espresso. 

I chilled it overnight and then froze it as per instructions.  Then when I got home from church followed by a food shop this morning and was rather hot and bothered, I decided to try some. I whipped a bit of (double) cream as per instructions and then tucked in. It was awesome! Dangerously awesome, in fact. I can see I'll need to make this again soon... 

Happy freezing! 

PS recipe is here: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/06/espresso-granita-with-whipped-cream/

Fantastic Mr Fox's birthday cake

It was Fantastic Mr Fox's birthday a couple of weeks ago, so of course I had to make him a cake. I spent a lot of time considering different cakes and had tentatively decided on a Battenberg Cake   when I remembered last year's Cake of the Summer. It was a triple berry bundt cake with a lemon icing from the Smitten Kitchen website and it was truly amazing. Once I had it in my mind, I couldn't buy make it again. 

I think last year I used black currants, raspberries and blueberries. This time round I used blackberries, blueberries and raspberries.  

The cake is pretty straight forward to make - I used my KitchenAid. I had a slight moment of panic about getting the cake out, but it was needless. The cake was delicious and I expect to be making it again soon!

Happy baking!

PS The recipe is here:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/06/triple-berry-summer-buttermilk-bundt/