Blackcurrant cake with coulis
FREE TO READ: A long lost glut is discovered at the back of the freezer so I make almond & vanilla sponge with blackcurrant jam, cream cheese frosting and blackcurrant coulis.
My neighbour has blackcurrant bushes so prolific it’s obscene
Each year, the branches hang heavy with fruit, their flesh swollen with the juices and their skin taut. Harvest them with too firm a grip and they will burst lasciviously over your hands. I have harvested four kilos from one shrub alone, returning to the shade of the kitchen, scratched, sticky and stained with juice.
After washing (me and the berries) I laboriously pick the spent flower from one end of each berry and the stem that attaches it to the branch from the other. It’s a faff yes, but calming to have your hands in cold water - it slows the heart rate after the excitement of the harvest.
But what to do with them?
There really is only so much blackcurrant a household can take. A kilo is eaten fresh over the next week, I jam some, and the rest go in the freezer. For two years. They are discovered one rainy Sunday when I defrost the freezer in the shed and I pledge to get them dealt with.
Happily, the arrival of a new kitchen gadget provides inspiration – a juicer. Coulis (pronounced, as it must be, in the style of Lloyd Grossman during his MasterChef days in the 90s) and with it, cake.
(GIFTED: For full transparency, Magimix have given me a Magimix Extra Press XL attachment to play with. Which is what I used to make the coulis. Posts like this aren’t part of the exchange, but I’m so happy with the cake that I wanted to share it with you. The link above is an affiliate link. I hope that’s ok - I don’t want to get all QVC about things here.)
Come for a chat at Daylesford this weekend
Before we tuck into cake, a quick reminder that I’ll be give a live cookery demonstration of some recipes from my new book, Rough Patch, at Daylesford Organic in Kingham on Saturday 5th April at 11:30am & 12:30pm. It’s free and there will be tasters. More info here.
Right, cake.
Blackcurrant cake with coulis
The blackcurrant glut of 2023 has been taking up far too much space in the freezer for far too long. It must be dealt with. And my new juicer is the perfect impetus to make blackcurrant coulis. This recipe makes more coulis than you will likely need, but leftovers keep for a few days in the fridge and are welcome on morning yogurt, or drizzled over ice-cream and waffles. The coulis will freeze too, but that’s just undoing the good work you’ve done on freezer space.
Serves 8 daintily or 6 greedily
700g blackcurrants
100g caster sugar
For the sponge:
190g salted butter, softened
190g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 eggs
110g self-raising flour
80g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
For the frosting:
150g cream cheese
150g double cream
40g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
Tip the blackcurrants into a juicer and whizz. Mine juicer has a ‘soft fruit’ insert which presses the fruit more firmly so you get a thick smoothie rather than a thin juice. Without a juicer, it’s a matter of blitzing the fruit in a blender then pressing through a sieve. Either way, you should get around 500ml of tart, red, seedless coulis.
Spoon 100g of coulis into a saucepan with the caster sugar and bring to a bubble. Boil until it reaches 104C then leave to cool to a thick, smooth jam. This will be the sandwich filling for your cake.
For the sponges, line two 7-inch loose-bottomed cake tins and pre-heat the oven to 185C.
In a freestanding mixer, or by hand if you’re very brave, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla paste together until pale and fluffy. With the paddle running, gradually add the egg, little by little, beating well before adding the next glug. Fold in the flour, almonds and baking powder then loosen with two tablespoons of coulis to create a smooth, soft batter that drops off a spoon with only a slight flick of the wrist.
Divide the mixture between the cake tins. Smooth off the top and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. If a skewer poked into the middle comes out gloopy after 30 minutes, give it another 5 minutes, but remember: moist and gooey is better than dry and powdery.
Remove from the oven and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, pop the cakes out of their tins and leave to cool completely.
For the frosting, simply whisk the cream cheese, double cream, icing sugar (sieved), vanilla paste and one tablespoon of coulis together in a bowl until it forms soft peaks. Set aside, but not in the fridge or it will go watery.
To assemble the cake, place one sponge on a plate, slather the top with a thick layer of blackcurrant jam then place the second sponge on top. Dollop the frosting on top and around the sides and use a palette knife to spread it around rustically.
Slice into generous wedges and serve with a jug of coulis on the side.
Oh my…. *adds ‘blackcurrant bush’ to the requirements of the veg patch….* x