Frances Quinn's rainbow cake recipe
- 1 squirt cake-release spray
- 100 g (3.5oz) butter, softened
- 100 g (3.5oz) caster sugar
- 2 lemons
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 100 g (3.5oz) self-raising flour
- 2 tbsp ground almonds
- 100 g (3.5oz) caster sugar
- 300 ml (10.6fl oz) double cream
- 1 kiwi fruit
- 1 mango
- 150 g (5.3oz) strawberries
- 50 g (1.8oz) blueberries
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.
- Lightly grease the outside of the syrup tin with cake-release spray, then wrap it in baking parchment.
- Place it in the centre of the lined round tin.
- Using a hand-held electric whisk, or in a free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together for 510 minutes or until very light, pale and creamy.
- Grate the zest from the lemons into the mix and beat it in.
- Lightly beat the eggs in a mug or jug.
- Gradually add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition.
- If the mixture looks like its curdling, add a spoonful of the flour.
- Sift the flour and almonds into the mixture, in batches, folding in each batch until just combined.
- Squeeze all the juice from the lemons.
- Gently stir 2 tablespoons of the juice into the cake mixture.
- Set the rest of the juice aside.
- Spoon the cake mixture into your tin, taking care to keep the syrup tin central as you spread the mixture around it.
- Bake for 2025 minutes or until the cake is risen and lightly golden brown, and a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the lemon syrup.
- Measure the reserved lemon juice and add water, if necessary, to make it up to 100ml.
- Pour into a saucepan.
- Add the caster sugar and set the saucepan over a medium-high heat.
- Warm for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Once the cake is baked, and while it is still warm, prick the surface all over with the cocktail stick.
- Brush over some of the lemon syrup using the paintbrush or a pastry brush, allowing the syrup to soak into the sponge.
- Set aside the remaining syrup to glaze the fruit later.
- Leave the cake to cool slightly before carefully lifting out the syrup tin.
- Set the cake, still in its round tin, on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Remove the cooled cake from the tin.
- Using a ruler as a guide, cut the cake across in half to make two rainbow shapes.
- Whip the cream with a hand-held electric whisk until it forms soft-to-medium peaks.
- Using a small palette knife, spread half the cream over each rainbow-shaped cake, creating a slightly textured finish.
- Place one cream-covered rainbow cake on top of the other.
- Cut the top and bottom off the kiwi fruit, then slice the skin away in strips.
- Use a small, sharp knife to peel the mango, then slice the flesh off the central stone in large pieces; youll only need about half of this, depending on the mangos size.
- Cut the kiwi, mango and strawberries into neat 12cm pieces.
- Arrange all the pieces of fruit on top of the cake in neat rows, to create the appearance of a rainbow.
- Brush the remaining lemon syrup over the fruit as a glaze.
- (Any leftover syrup can be kept in the fridge for up to a week and used to flavour other cakes.)
squirt cake, butter, caster sugar, lemons, eggs, flour, ground almonds, caster sugar, double cream, fruit, mango, strawberries, blueberries
Taken from www.lovefood.com/guide/recipes/47575/rainbow-cake-recipe (may not work)