I hope you all had a lovely Easter. It was a nice relaxing one here, although we could have done with the weather being a bit nicer, it has been very wintry! It was also my mum’s birthday yesterday so making a nice a birthday cake was in order!

I had a browse through my cookery books but nothing really inspired me, so I decided to come up with my own creation. Mum loves almonds so that was my basis.

I sort of wanted to go for a classic Victoria sponge crossed with the taste of a Bakewell tart. I added ground almonds to the sponge. In the centre was raspberry jam and a generous amount whipped double cream with a hint of almond extract. I also put some raspberry jam on the top of the cake and then covered the cake with the remaining whipped cream for a crumb coat. The frosting had more almond flavoring and a drop of pink food colouring and a touch of buttermilk. I decorated the top with meringue and crushed Amoretti biscuits.

The thing with making a big cake rather than cupcakes is you can’t test the sponge to see if it taste its ok until it’s too late and in front of someone. I always have a bit of apprehension when the cake is first cut if it will look and more importantly taste ok, but I think from what my family said I passed on both counts.

I’m slowly getting used to stepping out of my comfort zone of following a recipe to the letter and experimenting and adapting recipes, it’s quite fun! Especially when it turns out ok :)

x