Yoghurt and Raspberry Cake with Elderflower Syrup

This is a wonderful picnic cake – it holds its shape so well which makes it great to travel with and full of summer fruit. It seems to get better the next day as the syrup develops in the cake and adds a lovely fluffy texture to it.  Kay Anderson provided me with the first tasting of this and makes it frequently for picnics, and noted it is great for lunchboxes too. 

Recipe by Matthew Evans in his Summer on Fat Pig Farm cookbook.

Pictured: Yoghurt and Raspberry Cake with Elderflower Syrup

125g butter, softened

200g castor sugar – Kay uses a little less say 150g

3 eggs

Finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

200g self-raising flour

200g natural yoghurt

150g raspberries

Syrup -

80ml water

150g sugar

1 tbsp elderflower cordial

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then gently fold in lemon zest and flour.

Fold in the yoghurt.

Scrape the mix into the cake tin, make a little well in the centre so the sides are higher and dot the raspberries over the top.

Bake 30 – 40 minutes – check by inserting a skewer to the centre and that it comes out clean with no remaining uncooked batter stuck to the skewer.

Meantime make the syrup – heat the water, sugar and lemon juice in a small pan and simmer 5 minutes.

Once the cake is cooked, leave it in the tin and place on a tray – poke holes through the cake about 30 times.

Add the elderflower cordial to the syrup and spoon it all over the cake aiming for the holes evenly.

Allow to cool. 

Ready to serve!

Serves 8- 10