Our biggest pie fan (and one of our oldest friends) was visiting this weekend, so I had a second go at the passion fruit tart idea. This time, I made it pie-sized with a beautiful blind-baked crust (if I do say so myself). But it didn’t really work. The ratios were off – not enough meringue, maybe not enough filling, either. And I served it warm which was a terrible idea. The filling was an utter puddle and tasted too sweet. Leftovers the next day had congealed a little which improved things slightly, but we’re still talking leagues from pie perfection.
The kids decided that I’m better at making cakes.
I made this one last night and it was such a celebration. Peter has been visiting – he’s been on holiday in Europe with his lovely wife and tagged on a long weekend in Edinburgh on the way home. A visit from is in itself a reason for cake, (you might remember his wedding cake) but last night, we were also celebrating his upcoming ordination. The service will be on Tuesday at St Andrew’s Church in Ottawa and there’s no way we can be there, so it was such a gift that he could drop in on us in our faraway home. Reason #1 for cake.
Reason #2 : the lovely Ellie is getting married today. In snowy Canada and again we can’t be there. There will be a bigger party on this side of the pond in the summer and we’ll be there with bells on. But for now, we celebrate at a distance with cake.
Celebration helps us make sense of the world. It is a joyful pause – a moment of looking more closely at the details of our lives. Which ties in really nicely with yesterday’s Sunday School story.
We’re working through the Moses stories and yesterday we shared the story about the burning bush. I told it slowly, wondering what it was like being Moses on the hillside with the sheep, scanning the rough and rocky land, keeping an eye on the sheep among the bushes. Then seeing something. We imagined that he might not be quite sure at first what he was seeing. Heat waves, maybe. Smoke. Then he turned towards the bush, stepping up to take a closer look. There was a pause – time to watch and wonder. And then he heard his own name spoken. In that moment, he knew God’s voice in his life.
I think that celebrations work something like that, too. A pause. A moment to wonder. A place to hear our own name spoken out loud. Ellie will have that moment later today, and then Peter tomorrow. It is good to hear your name and step forward into newness. There is blessing in that.
I decorated this cake with icing sugar but maybe when you make it, you can write someone’s name on top. Celebrate someone you love.
Apple Raspberry Celebration Cake
This is a great thick apple-moist cake with pockets of raspberries. Not the most elegant beast on the block and a little like an oversized muffin. But gorgeous. And because of all the fruit, you can eat a great wedge and feel healthy. Ish.
50g ground almonds
250g flour
½ tsp baking powder
140 g brown sugar
50g white sugar
250 ml sunflower oil
4 eggs
3 unpeeled apples, coarsely grated
250 g raspberries – fresh or frozen as you find timely for your celebration
How to:
Preheat oven to 300º and line the bottom of 2 x 20cm cake pan with baking parchment.
Mix together your dry ingredients, then add the sugars. I mix this stage with my fingers, trying to get all the brown sugar lumps blended in.
Add apples, eggs and oil and mix everything together well. Divide between your two pans and dot about a third of the raspberries on top. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pans.
I mixed up some icing to glue the two cakes together – but I’m afraid I didn’t measure. What I did was put about 50g soft butter in a large bowl and creamed it with icing sugar. Then I mashed in the rest of the berries and added more icing sugar until I liked the consistency and colour. I like a fairly thick layer of icing to go with the thick cake and the raspberries make it a glorious vibrant colour. You could equally well use cream cheese in the icing – its tanginess would be lovely with the raspberries, I think.
