LIME, RASPBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE CAKE:
Cut into hearty chunks and served with a dollop of thick cream or Greek yoghurt this is the best way to round off a lovely picnic lunch. You could use blueberries or blackberries instead of raspberries.

Cut this cake into hearty chunks and take it on a summer’s picnic or slice it in delicate fingers and nestle it amongst other dainty morsels on a fine china cake stand for afternoon tea. You can even serve it as a scrumptious dessert – straight from the oven, with clotted cream or crème fraîche. Aromatic limes with tangy raspberries and sweet velvety white chocolate… sheer bliss! I love making this cake in the summer with freshly picked raspberries, but you can make an equally delectable autumnal version by replacing the raspberries with blackberries.

What you need:

One 22cm (9 inch) square cake tin

FOR THE CAKE:

– 200g / 7oz raspberries (1½ cups)
– 225g / 8oz butter (2 sticks)
– 225g / 8oz golden caster sugar * (1 cup)
– 4 free-range eggs (UK medium / USA large) *
– 30g / 1oz ground almonds * (¼ cup)
– 2 limes, zest and juice
– 100g / 3½oz good quality white chocolate, broken into pieces (½ cup)
– 250g / 9oz plain flour * (2 cups)
– 10ml / 2 tsp baking powder

FOR THE LIME SYRUP:

– 85g / 3oz granulated sugar (6 Tbsp)
– Juice of 2 limes
– 45ml / 3 Tbsp boiling water
– 2.5ml / ½ tsp vanilla extract *
– Zest of 1 lime

What you do:

Makes 12 hearty portions (and many more delicate ones)

1. Before you start, spread the raspberries on a baking sheet and freeze them for about 30 minutes. (If you mix them into the cake batter without freezing them first, they break up and the cake turns bright pink!)

2. Preheat the oven to 160ºC / 320ºF.

3. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with baking parchment.

4. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs lightly and add them to the creamed mixture in several batches, mixing well between each addition.

5. Add the ground almonds. Grate the lime zest directly into the mixture and then add the juice and fold in the white chocolate chunks.

6. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix. Lastly, add the raspberries, taking care not to break them up.

7. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the cake is firm to the touch and golden in colour. You can also test it with a skewer to be sure it is cooked through.

8. While the cake is baking, make the lime syrup: Combine all the ingredients except the zest in a small heavy-based pan, stir well to dissolve the sugar and then boil for 3 minutes, until it becomes ‘syrupy’.

9. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick the surface with a fine skewer. Sprinkle the lime zest onto the cake and spoon the syrup over it.

10. Leave the cake to cool completely and absorb all the syrup before removing it from the tin.

11. This cake is perfect as is, but you can decorate it with a drizzle of melted white chocolate or with fresh raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Enjoy the picnic! If you’re craving more royal recipes, there are 100 more delicious dishes created by Robb, in her new cookbook: The Royal Touch: Simply Stunning Home Cooking From A Royal Chef. And if you’d like your very own copy, ACC Art Books is offering Urban Suburban Mommy’s readers a 35% discount, just use promo code: ROYAL to save on your order!

Carolyn Robb was Personal Chef to TRH Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Prince Harry for ten years.