Cake One: Raspberry Sour Cream Cake

I decided I’d better get started, but I had a lot of other stuff to do today so kept things pretty simple with Nigella Lawson’s Raspberry-Flecked Sour Cream Cake from her “At My Table” book. I love Nigella, you should check out her website, and you can find out more about “At My Table” at https://www.nigella.com/books/at-my-table

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The best thing about this cake was I already had everything in the cupboard. While I usually am more than happy to whip down to the supermarket when the urge to cook strikes, in this lockdown I can’t justify that. I’m trying not to go to the supermarket more than once a week, which has required a lot more planning from me than is usual (and fewer impulse purchases – every cloud has a silver lining!) I got into freeze-dried raspberries after I had them on some fancy muesli when I was having a hotel breakfast on a work trip. They’re not cheap (maybe $10 a bag?) but you only need a couple crumbled over your breakfast, so a bag will last for ages.

The recipe was super easy, no cake mixer required. Not too much mess to clean up either – the best sort of cake recipe! I let it bake while I made dinner, and then let it cool. Nigella says to let it cool completely and while I’m super impatient it is an important step when you’re icing a cake or else the icing just runs down the sides. Conveniently, over the past 24 hours I’ve become obsessed with Tiger King on Netflix, and it turns out two episodes of big cat craziness tidily fills the time needed for a cake to cool.

Icing was super easy, chucked the raspberries on, and done! Only downside to finishing it this late is I didn’t really feel like taste testing – might have to be an April Fools Day cake breakfast! I’m not usually a huge fan of making cakes with oil (often I melt butter instead) but I thought I should follow the recipe this time and see what happens. Last block of butter I bought cost a LOT.

Now, some of you have asked if there’s going to be a rating system, and yes, there is. Since I’ve not had the chance to taste this one I might hold off on the final rating for now, but here we go:

• Deliciousness : Wait and see!
• Recipe complexity: Simple, easy to follow. Suitable for new bakers.
• Availability/price of ingredients: With the exception of the raspberries, the ingredients aren’t expensive and are easy to obtain.
• Similarity of final cake to picture/description: I think it looked pretty close to the original!
• Would I bake it again? Yes.