Honey
By Amy Newsome
Almond, olive and raspberry loaf cake
Thyme and orange blossom honey
Not Too Tricky
makes 1
About the recipe
If you need a little more joy in your life, and by joy I mean homemade cake, loaf cakes are for you. Every time I bake a loaf cake I rejoice in how easy and no-fuss they are to put together, yet so satisfyingly tasty, sliceable and storable. A cake for real life. It’s probably a good thing that I forget all this for weeks at a time before making another one, because otherwise I might roll down the street. What’s more, loaf cakes are just the right size to be entirely acceptable for baking if you live on your own, like I do; big round cakes tend to stay sulking in your cookbook until there’s a birthday and you have an excuse to make one for friends. You need no excuse to make these.
Recipe From
Ingredients
3 sprigs of lemon thyme (1g leaves)
120g (4oz) caster (superfine) sugar, plus an extra 1 tbsp for topping
Grated zest of ½ orange and ½ lemon
100g (3½oz) raspberries
125g (4½oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 eggs
75g (2½oz) plain yogurt
75g (2½oz) extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp thyme honey
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
75g (2½oz) ground almonds
Small handful of flaked (slivered) almonds, toasted
Method
- Line a loaf tin (pan) measuring about 24 x 12cm (9 x 5in) with baking parchment or, preferably, a light buttering and (caster/superfine) sugaring. Strip the leaves from the lemon thyme and add to a mixing bowl with the sugar and citrus zest. Mix with your hands, working the leaves and zest into the sugar to release the essential oils. It will take on colour and become aromatic. Lightly dust the raspberries in 1 tablespoon of the flour and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs into the yogurt, then whisk in the oil and honey. Sift over the remaining flour, the baking powder and salt, and add the ground almonds and fragrant sugar. Mix quickly then pour two-thirds into the loaf tin. Arrange the raspberries over the top, then add the remaining batter and sprinkle over the flaked almonds and extra tablespoon of sugar.
- Bake in the oven for 25–35 minutes until a thin metal skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
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