MARZIPAN AND RASPBERRY COMPOTE CAKE

This is so scrummy! I found this recipe about fifiteen ago in a paper and have altered it slightly but the flavours and texture are so perfect. My husband just loves it. He ate three slices during the day that I made this one! You can buy Compote, but it takes seconds to make and so I will start off with that recipe. This is great on ice cream as well!

For the Compote. Place in a small Saucepan:

1½ cups fresh raspberries

generous ¼ cup of caster sugar

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 or 6 minutes until soft. Add a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a little of the juice and stir it in. Continue stirring for another minute. It should look like a soft jam. Cool in a small basin.

You will need about 8 fl oz of the compote for the cake.

Grease and line the base of a spring form 8” loose bottomed tin. Preheat your fan oven to about 160C.

4 oz softened butter

8 oz caster sugar

a little almond essence

4 beaten eggs

6 oz self raising flour

4 oz ground almonds

5 oz marzipan, cut into small cubes

Cream the butter, sugar and essence until fluffy, then beat in the eggs a little at a time, along with a small amount of the flour to stop it curdling. [use a hand mixer for this!]. Fold in the flour, then add the ground almonds and cubed marzipan. Put a few dobs of this in the base of your tin, to just cover, then a few half dessertspoonfuls of the compote. Keep filling the cake tin with both, then very slightly swirl the mixture. You want it mixed in, but not too much - if you know what I mean!!

Bake for about an hour, maybe a few minutes longer, until it is just firm to the touch. I turned it down to 150C after about 45 mins. Cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn out to cool. The smell is just heavenly.

Just lightly dredge with some icing sugar. It is so rich, with an amazing flavour, it needs nothing else to enhance it. Enjoy. A bit like old fashioned jam buns with marzipan!