Yoghurt and raspberry cake with elderflower syrup

This is a variation on a Greek-inspired yoghurt cake I’ve been making for some years. The raspberries tend to sink into the batter a bit as the cake rises, which is just perfect.

Yoghurt and raspberry cake... thank you Matthew Evans! Credit: Alan Benson

• serves

  8-10

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 125 g (4½ oz) butter, softened
• 200 g (7 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 3 eggs
• finely grated zest and strained juice of ½ lemon
  (1 tbsp juice and ½ tsp zest)
• 200 g (7 oz/1½ cups) self-raising flour
• 200 g (7 oz/3/4 cup) natural yoghurt
• 150 g (5½ oz) raspberries
• 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) water
• 150 g (5½ oz) sugar
• 1 tbsp elderflower cordial (concentrate)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. It may look a bit curdled but don’t worry, we’ll fix that. Gently fold in the lemon zest and flour and then fold in the yoghurt too. Use a spatula to scrape into the cake tin, making the centre a little lower compared to the edges. Dot the raspberries over the top. Bake for 30–40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

While the cake cooks, heat the water, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. When the cake is cooked, take it from the oven, but leave it in the tin. Poke a fine skewer into the cake about 30 times all over. Remove the syrup from the heat and add the elderflower cordial, then spoon the syrup over the top of the cake. Try to spoon it so it soaks into the holes evenly rather than all soaking into the edges around the tin. Allow to cool, then serve on a picnic rug, in dappled shade, in summer, or spring, or winter, or autumn.

Recipe and image from Fat Pig Farm by Matthew Evans (Murdoch Books, hbk, $49.99).

View our Readable feasts review and more recipes from the book here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.