Just for you

    Ever since I got Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook I've been meaning to try her Blackcurrant and Almond Cake, and this morning I did. Below is the picture from the facing page of the book, Sarah in her garden, preparing the blackcurrants for the kitchen.



Rather more mundanely, I went to Tesco to get mine, resorting to a mixture of frozen summer fruits when no fresh blackcurrants were to be had (but then I avoided all the stripping and topping and tailing).



As I write this the cake has just come out of the oven and is cooling, but I had to try a piece - valiantly, selflessly consumer-testing the warmly fragrant confection solely for the benefit of Cornflower readers - what would I not do for you?
The recipe suggests dusting with icing sugar before serving, but for now I had it just as it comes and it's excellent. This is definitely a cake to repeat: very moist, buttery, almondy with a little vanilla, and enough tang from the fruit to balance the sweetness, and you can have it as a pudding, too.



Did I mention serving it with cream? That would involve a return trip to Tesco and I couldn't possibly; well maybe, since it's you.....