Cassis Ripple Loaf Cake

Apart from the occasional Kir Royale, I have a bottle of Crème de Cassis Liqueur that goes largely unloved for most of the year. This recipe puts it to really good use making a deliciously tangy, fruity cake that, incredibly, is no where near as sickly sweet as the syrupy liqueur.

This recipe makes use of frozen blackcurrants (because we are not in blackcurrant season) but they are a great choice since the first step is essentially just making jam. I would love to say that a bag of frozen blackcurrants is easy to find, but they are not. And I would love to say that I did not painstakingly pick these out of a four berry medley, but that would also be a lie - I will file that away under the category of 'Bizarre Lockdown Behaviours' and say no more about it.

Putting fruit into a cake mixture is always tricky because the added moisture can give unpredictable results and often weighs the mixture down. To combat this, make sure you really reduce the jam until it is sticky and not wet. It is also important to be gentle when folding through the egg whites to avoid crushing the bubbles or overworking the flour.

This cake is made by swirling together two batters, blackcurrant and vanilla. The blackcurrant is incredibly highly flavoured, almost like a tangy fruit pastille, so trust that the vanilla needs to be there!

*As always, I have given all of the measurements in grams because that's how I weigh them. I am certainly not flicking my scales between the units for liquids and solids and I do not expect anyone else to.

INGREDIENTS

Jam Base

150g Frozen Blackcurrants

50g Crème de Cassis Liqueur

50g Water

Cake

150g Brown Sugar

150g Butter

3 Eggs (separated)

200g Plain Flour

10g Baking Powder (roughly 2 teaspoons)

Pinch of Salt

100g Milk (in two 50g portions)

50g Cassis

1 tsp Icing Sugar

Glaze

25g Butter

25g Cassis

50g Lemon Juice

50g Icing Sugar

1) Add the jam base ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer on a medium low heat until most of the blackcurrants have burst open, then turn the heat up to medium high. Boil the jam until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning. When it is dark and sticky, transfer the jam to a small bowl and leave to cool.

2) For the cake batters, make the same base and then separate the mixture in two before adding the relevant flavours. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar and butter until light and creamy. Add a teaspoon of flour to prevent the mixture from splitting and keep whisking until it airy and voluminous. Add the egg yolks and another teaspoon of flour and keep whipping until it resembles the texture of whipped cream. To this, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold gently to make a thick batter.

Cream this together...

...then add this...

Make sure it's light and fluff

The thick batter

4) Split this batter into two even halves. To one bowl, add 1 tbsp vanilla extract and 50g of milk. To the other bowl add the blackcurrant jam and 50g of Cassis. Gently mix each batter to incorporate the flavours. In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites with the spoon of icing sugar until it forms soft, slightly glossy peaks. Fold half of the egg white through the vanilla batter and half through the blackcurrant batter.

5) Prepare a loaf tin by applying a thin layer of butter and lightly sprinkling it with flour. Randomly splodge the two cake batters in the tin to make a marbled effect and then briefly swirl a skewer or the end of a piece of cutlery through the batters to mingle them gently without fully mixing.

6) Bake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for about 40 minutes until the cake is well risen and golden on top. If the cake is whistling in a fairly obvious way then it is still too wet inside. Leave it in the oven for an addition 10 minutes before checking again.

7) Allow the cake to cool for 2-3 minutes. If the top of the cake is domed, level it off as you will need a flat surface to turn it out on to. Run a knife around the edge of the tin to make sure it has not stuck then flip the cake on to a cooling rack. Ease off the tin leaving the cake behind on the rack. Leave it to completely cool.

8) In a saucepan, combine all of the glaze ingredients until the butter has melted and the glaze is lump-free, smooth and glossy. Put a tray or dish under the cake to catch excess glaze and pour the glaze over the cake so that every part of it is covered. Allow this to air dry for a few hours before serving.