A Life, Lived

Raspberry Ricotta Cake with Almonds

Apparently raspberries respond well to 'surface of the sun' heat and 'Sahara desert' rainfall. They have been coming in tastier than I remember them. Raspberries are one of the few fruit that I can think of that taste better baked than when raw. The other being plums.

Bake them I did.

Raspberry Ricotta Cake with Almonds is moist, fluffy and super easy to make! It’s perfect for dessert in the evening or with coffee in the morning.

NOTE: the recipe calls for frozen berries. I used fresh and it turned out well. If the berries are overripe it could be problematic and them might break apart in the thick batter. It would still taste good but it might look unsightly.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Ricotta Cake with Almonds

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter - melted and cooled (½ cup)
1 heaping cup frozen raspberries - divided
>¼ cup sliced almonds

Place a rack in the lower ⅓ of the oven (NOT right in the center). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch diameter cake pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together eggs, ricotta and vanilla until smooth in another bowl then stir into dry ingredients.

Fold in the melted butter followed by ¾ cup of the frozen raspberries, being careful to not crush the berries.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Scatter remaining berries over the top followed by the almonds.

Bake 50 minutes or until light golden brown and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool at least 20 minutes before unmolding.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

Way back before COVID  hit (the before times) Paul and I used to always stop into the American grocery store Wegmans on our cross-border shopping trips. In the fall Wegmans sells an amazing pumpkin roll cake - something we had never seen of heard of back home. Moist pumpkin cake filled with a light cream cheese filling. Picking up a cake was something we always did.

Now that our cross-border shopping trips have been stymied I've been craving one of this cake. It is one of the few times that I have been disappointed that Canada doesn't go gaga over pumpkin flavoured things as much as the US does.

When I started searching for recipes online I discovered that the pumpkin cream cheese roil is a well-loved American treat and there are a bazillion recipes for it. YouTube is chock full of videos showing me how to roll the cake just so to prevent the disastrous crack. With options that complex I went to King Arthur Flour and printed a recipe off of their site.

The first thing I discovered was that I needed a new jelly roll pan - 10x15 inches. Apparently I had double jelly roll pans. Who knew?

Amazon came through and I was good to go.

But I put it off - intimidated by the process.

Yesterday I was determined to tackle this challenge. Turns out it was a lot easier than i was expecting.

This classic pumpkin roll recipe is made with a moist pumpkin sponge cake, rolled up with a fluffy cream cheese filling. We both loved it.

Now that I have had some success with rolled cakes I am thinking of tacking a Bouche de Noel at Christmas!

Enjoy.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

3/4 cup (90g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (hard to find in Canada but I discovered that 'regular' AP flour works as well)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of cloves, ginger, and allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (198g) sugar
2/3 cup (177g) pumpkin purée

Filling

one 8-ounce package (227g) cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons (85g) butter, softened
1 cup (113g) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease and line a standard 10" x 15" or 9 1/2" x 14" jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick, fluffy, and light in color. Beat in the pumpkin.

Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.

Bake the cake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched. Remove the cake from the oven, and allow it to cool in the pan for 2 minutes.

Loosen the edges with a knife or spatula. Lightly spray a second piece of parchment with non-stick vegetable oil spray and invert the cake onto the prepared second piece of parchment.

Using the two pieces of parchment, roll the cake up from the short end. Allow it to cool completely, wrapped in the parchment.

To make the filling: Mix the cream cheese and butter until well combined.

Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

To assemble the cake: Carefully unroll the cake and spread it with the filling.

Re-roll the filled cake with the filling inside, and place it seam-side down on a serving plate. Trim the ends for a clean appearance.

Dust with confectioners' sugar right before slicing and serving. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

NY Times Plum Torte

The New York Times Plum Torte is easily one of their most famous recipes of all time. It’s incredibly easy to make, requiring only a bowl and a spoon, and is a perfect way to use up beautiful in season summer plums. The cake is dense, yet light, super moist, not too sweet and great with a cup of coffee or tea. 

This cake recipe by Marion Burros was first printed in the New York Times in 1982 and continued to run for the remainder of the decade every single September, until one year they said enough is enough. But people noticed, and they were not happy. They sent angry letters demanding the recipe be reprinted, and so The Times did one more time, but with a note urging people to clip save it, because this would most definitely be the last.

This cake comes together in a flash. Simple ingredients, simple measurements and the best of the best summer fruit. It doesn’t seem like anything special, but it is, and you’ll understand once you taste it. Something happens in the oven that can only be described as magic. I love kitchen magic.

The fruit is sweet-tart and jammy, with just enough firmness to still know that it’s a plum. The deep purple hue bleeds all throughout the batter, and the cake itself comes in waves. It’s light, but still has a dense chewy quality that is completely addictive. This is the kind of cake that tastes best when eaten with your hands while hovered over the sink, and with all that fruit, I find it more than acceptable to eat for breakfast.

I waited 39 years to make this recipe. Don't be like Jerry - make it now.

NY Times Plum Torte

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon, divided*
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 plums, depending size, pitted and halved**
Juice from ½ lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter the inside of a 9-inch springform pan. Cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. You can use an electric mixer, but I find a wooden spoon and a little elbow grease to the job just fine. Add in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix until just combined.

Spread the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Arrange the halved plums cut-side-down, then use your fingers to gently press them into the batter. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fruit, then mix together the remaining tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle that over the top.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (of raw batter, that is. ) Allow the cake to cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes prior to cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cake is also excellent served cold after chilling in the fridge overnight.

* Depending on how sweet your plums are and how sweet you like your cake, the sugar can be cut down to ¾ cup.

** You will use more or less plums depending on the variety and size, but also depending on your preference. I tend to use more plums for a fruitier cake, but you can always opt to use less for a cakier-cake. You can’t go wrong either way, trust me.

Rhubarb Ricotta Cake

Last April Elizabeth Minchilli posted this strawberry ricotta cake on her blog. It took off and soon Instagram was flooded with images of strawberry ricotta cakes.

I decided to bake a version of it last week. Here in Ontario the strawberries are not quite ready but the rhubarb is in full swing. I decided to tweak Minchilli's recipe and make a rhubarb version.

To help me with that I pulled out the Flavour Bible. A million years ago (12 actually) I was a part of a cooking group that used this resource extensively. I haven't really used it since but now that i am retired I find myself flipping through it as I contemplate recipes of my own. The Food Bible breaks apart food flavours and identifies flavour combinations that work well together and those that do not. I looked up Rhubarb and saw that orange zest and cardamom work well with rhubarb. That became my flavour profile for the recipe.

You can chop the rhubarb up into bite sized pieces. I sliced it into lengths (large pieces slices into quarter lengths) because I wanted to try to arrange them attractively on the top of the cake. You'll see I only sort of succeeded. I'll need to keep experimenting with the 'look'.

While the look wasn't as attractive as I was hoping for, the taste was pretty amazing!

Enjoy.

Rhubarb Ricotta Cake

¼ sticks/ 140 gr unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup fresh whole milk ricotta
2 tablespoons whole fat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated orange zest (from one orange)
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom
three stalks rhubarb, cut into quarters - length-wise
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C.

Butter and flour a 9-inch spring form pan

If you have a stand mixer it makes things easier.

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in.

Next add the ricotta and the yoghurt, vanilla and orange zest and mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add them to the wet mixture, just folding them in until mixed. Don’t over beat.

Pour the dough into buttered cake tin, and level it out with a spoon. Place the rhubarb pieces on top of the batter, cut side up, pressing them in a bit. Sprinkle the cake with the sugar and bake for 40 minutes.

Let cool, remove from pan and serve with whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Dark Christmas Cake

Old English Fruitcake. Dark and moist with plenty of spices and packed with plenty of currants, nuts, and sweet glacé fruit. It’s been a Christmas tradition in my family for decades.

Even though Christmas is still more than a month away this is the time to make your Christmas Cake. After baking it you want to soak it in rum, wrap in cheesecloth, followed by foil, and store in a cool, dark place until you eat it on Christmas Day.

My mom has a recipe that she has been using for more than 50 years. We used to make the cakes together but with work being so busy I've fallen out of the tradition for the past few years. This year, with the COVID challenges everywhere, it seemed to be time to return to tradition.

Sort of.

I did not use mom's recipe. Yup, I'm likely on the list of children destined for hell as a result but it was time for a change.

This recipe made about half the cakes that mom's recipe makes. While we like Christmas Cake not everyone does and I'll be damned if one of my Christmas Cakes will become that white elephant gift at the gift exchange that no one wants.

I liked that this recipe soaked the fruit in rum overnight. Boozy fruit is good.

This recipe also uses molasses to darken the cakes - mom's recipe uses grape juice.

I think change will be good.

I followed the recipe as printed with a couple of exceptions - I doubled all three of the spices. 1/4 teaspoon seemed like a tiny amount. I used half a teaspoon and the batter tasted amazing and the cakes had a lovely scent when I pulled them out of the oven. The recipe calls for one large cake which you later cut into smaller cakes. You cans see from the pic below that I used small pans to bake the cakes in - as a result I cut the coking time a bit as well.

Other than that I followed along perfectly.

I'll let you know around December 24th how they tasted.

Dark Christmas Cake

• • 2 cups dried currants
  • 2 cups candied mixed peel
  • 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped candied pineapple
  • 1 1/2 cup red glacé cherries , halved
  • 1 1/2 cup seeded Muscat raisins or lexia raisins
  • 1 cup amber or dark rum or brandy
  • 2 cups alI-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon each ground allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg
  • pinch salt
  • 3/4 cups butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup strawberry jam
  • 2 tablespoons fancy molasses
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup chopped walnut halves

In large bowl, combine currants, mixed peel, pineapple, cherries, raisins and 3/4 cup of the rum; cover and let stand for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; toss 1/2 cup into currant mixture. In separate bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, jam and molasses until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in remaining flour mixture in 1 addition just until combined. Stir in currant mixture and walnuts. Scrape into 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) double-thickness parchment paper–lined cake pan, smoothing top. 

Set shallow pan on bottom rack of 300°F oven; pour in enough water to come halfway up sides. Bake cake on centre rack for 1 hour. Lay foil loosely over cake; bake until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean but a little sticky, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

Remove cake from pan; peel off parchment paper. Soak double-thickness 16-inch square of cheesecloth in remaining rum; wrap around cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and overwrap in foil. Refrigerate for 1 month. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 months.) Cut crosswise into 6 bars.

Italian Grape Cake

Studded with juicy grapes with hints of vanilla and citrus, this is a simple and lovely Italian-style cake — perfect for breakfast, brunch or tea but also delicious topped with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream for dessert. It’s called a “harvest cake” because it’s traditionally made during the grape harvest season to use up the small grapes not going for pressing. More practically, it’s a great way to use up any grapes that are less than perfect (e.g. soft or tough-skinned).

It was perfect for my purposes - I had a lot of grapes from our CSA that I wanted to use up before we leave for Poland and Germany. I have no clue what kind of grapes these are - they are small, purple, seedless, and have an intense flavour. So intense, in fact, you almost think it must be artificial.

The cake is prepared with half butter and half olive oil, producing an unusually light and moist cake. I used some of the tangerine infused olive oil that I brought home from California - it riffed nicely off of the citrus zest in the cake.

This was easy to make and delicious - an important combination in my books.

Italian Grape Cake

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off, plus more for flouring the pan
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/3 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
2 teaspoons lemon zest, from one lemon
1 teaspoon orange zest, from one orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups seedless grapes, divided

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan. Place about 2 tablespoons of flour in the pan. Turn and shake the pan so that the flour covers all greased surfaces. Turn the pan upside down over the sink and tap lightly with your hand to remove excess flour. (If you don't have a springform pan, it's fine to use a 9-inch nonstick cake pan. For extra insurance that the cake will release, butter the pan, then place a 9-inch round of parchment paper on the bottom, butter the paper, then flour the whole pan as directed above.)

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs with 2/3 cup of the sugar until pale and slightly thickened, about a minute. Add the milk, olive oil, melted butter, lemon zest, orange zest and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in 1-1/2 cups of the grapes. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Scatter the remaining grapes evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly over top. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool the cake for about 15 minutes on a rack.

Slide a butter knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Unfasten the latch on the side of the pan and gently ease the side of the pan off of the cake. Slide a wide metal spatula between the bottom of the cake and the pan, lift the cake off the base and transfer to a serving plate. (If you used a regular nonstick cake pan, simply invert the cake onto a plate and flip over.)

The Christmas Baking Begins . .

Yes indeed, even though Christmas is 2 months away we made the Christmas Cake today. We haven't made any for 4 or 5 years  . . . just too busy I guess. Yet in the midst of the craziest time I've experienced working it seemed a necessity! LOL

I posted the recipe back in 2007. This was the cake that was used for mom's wedding cake and she has been making them on and off ever since.

Here she is doing the final step - mixing the egg whites into the batter.

They baked for 2 hours.

The most important steps comes after they are cooled:

Holes are poked in each cake with a long toothpick and rum and brandy poured over top. Each cake is then wrapped like an Egyptian mummy in cotton cloth, waxed paper, and a final layer of foil.

The finished cakes are tucked away in a cool, dry spot until Christmas.

Family traditions . . . .

Warm Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze

Today is the day for the last Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club of 2014. December's theme, Warm Up to Winter, was selected by Val. This month I was tasked with bringing a dessert to the party.

I do believe that this must have been the easiest cake I have ever made! This gingerbread recipe is probably most similar to British gingerbreads. It’s moist, cakey and very pungent from the molasses. The spices give it a warm feel in the mouth and the lemon glaze adds just the right amount of tart sweetness.

The fragrance of gingerbread baking is just delightful as the cinnamon, cloves and ginger fill the house with holiday cheer. Perfect for today since we managed ot do most of the Christmas decorating.

We skipped the whipped topping that was called for - mom whined that she wanted some ginger ice cream with hers - I thought it was just fine on its own.

Warm Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze

1/3 cup butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup hot water
1 cup light or dark molasses
1 large egg
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed
Ground cinnamon (optional)
Lemon slices (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter and hot water in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until the butter melts. Add molasses and egg, and stir with a whisk until blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Add flour mixture to the molasses misture, stirring just until moist.

Spoon batter into a 9-inch cake pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool gingerbread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Combine sugar and lemon juice, stirring until well blended. Pierce top of gingerbread liberally with a wooden skewer. Pour glaze over gingerbread. Cool completely.

Top each serving with the whipped topping. Sprinkle gingerbread with cinnamon and garnish with lemon slices, if desired.

50th Birthday

It has officially been a blast turning 50.

As many of you know I have been celebrating this milestone all year and will continue to celebrate it until December. One of my facebook friends said it best yesterday 'this milestone only happens once so make it epic!'

So what did I do on my 50th?

I woke up as always, showered, dressed, went downstairs, had a coffee, made a smoothie, watered the pots and planters, and headed off on the train to the office.

Just another normal day.

Of course Paul wished me happy birthday (even sang) and I had some lovely messages from friends on facebook wishing me a happy birthday. The other nod to the occasion was I dumped some booze in my coffee!

I was heading to the office on the subway dithering about going to the gym or not when suddenly I decided to get off and walk to one of my favourite coffee shops. I hadn't been there for yonks. I am always so rushed in the morning that I race to the office, to the gym, and to work.  I ordered a coffee and sat outside watching the world wander by. It wasn't quite the same as doing the same in Italy but it was a nice reminder of the joy there is in slowing down and enjoying the moment.

While I was sitting there one of my friends posted this:

Happy special birthday wishes to one of my favorite people. Today we celebrate your great sense of humor, your culinary expertise, your loyal friendship, your huge heart, and for just being Jerry. Shine on!

It certainly brought a tear to my eye! Thanks Gail.

After awhile I headed to the office. No one knew it was my birthday so I sat at my desk and actually accomplished work for a change. :-) It was a great thing.

My friend Carolyn called me up and considered singing Happy Birthday but I put a stop to that. We did finalize a memo though - not bad considering she was on vacation and I was celebrating turning 50.

I had booked half of the day off so just before noon my friend Joanne and I went to the garage, hopped into her car, and headed off to Nancy's condo. Nancy had given us rather cryptic directions so we ended up driving around the block a few time but finally we found the entrance to the parking garage.

Nancy was making lunch.

This may not sound like a big thing but it was. a) Nancy hates cooking, and b) Nancy lives in a condo the size of a closet with a bathroom sized kitchen. I once visited Nancy and she served me an expired cooler and some cashews in a ZipLock bag. Making lunch was HUGE!

The building has a beautiful roof top terrace so we hung out up there.

I enjoyed my birthday drink a Blueberry, Lemon, Thyme Martini.

YUM

Later Nancy grilled burgers. It was a great way to celebrate with friends - hanging out on the terrace where we could hoot, holler, and laugh all we wanted.

We went back downstairs for cake and presents. Joanne made a lemon cake with a raspberry curd filling. Another rousing rendition of Happy Birthday.

My gift was a beautiful wire sculpture of a tree that we saw when we were in Vermont for Nancy's 50th LAST year. I just loved the motion in the tree. They 'secretly' bought it and held on to it until it was my turn to have a milestone birthday.

I say secretly because I knew when I saw the large box get placed in the van last August that they had gone back and bought it. I was just waiting for the box to appear wrapped with a bow. :-)

Joanne drove me home and it was a birthday miracle - traffic was not too bad at all!!!

When I pulled into the driveway there was a gift bag waiting on the doorstep from Leslie.

By now I was feeling rather spoiled.

Paul helped me carry everything in from the car. There were more gifts on the dinging room table but I was told that they had to wait until Tuesday night when we had a chance to celebrate with mom!

I relaxed with a book for a bit and must have nodded off because the ringing phone woke me up - mom. Apparently I was in for a third rendition of Happy Birthday! Mom was unique as always and decided to sing it like an opera singer.

Special times.

We were going to cook a nice dinner but were felling decidedly lazy at this point . . . plus I was mighty full from lunch!

A quick dig through the freezer found a variety of things from Trader Joes that we put together and called it dinner. Paul make a St Germain cocktail for my second special drink of the day.

Dinner was pretty good considering it was all ready made in the freezer - stuffed pork loin, gorgonzola gnocchi, a lentil and legume pilaf, and Paul's cesar salad. Of course we finished up with more cake  . . .there is nothing wrong with cake twice a day is there?

After cleaning up it was alI could do to roll myself into bed!

What a great day.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Cake

On Monday I featured a drink made with strawberry-rhubarb syrup and talked about how this is one of the quintessential flavour combinations of late June/July here in Ontario. In fact, not long after local asparagus arrives in the market strawberries and rhubarb show up to start the avalanche of fresh fruits and veggies.

For our Canada Day dessert I could have served the leftover cake from Paul's birthday:

It fit to a 'T'. But leftovers? I'd never live it down!

In the end I made a cobbler cake.

What is a cobbler cake?

Those dessert lovers out there know that a cobbler is a biscuit-topped fruit dessert. This isn’t far off… as it bakes, the fruit sinks down into the cake batter like your head into a soft, overstuffed pillow. Of course, since I used the wrong sized pan our fruit didn't sink down as much as it should have because the cake layer was just too darn thick.

This is my favorite kind of cake recipe – the sort that can be made with any type of fruit that happens to be at its peak; this would be fabulous with peaches, nectarines, plums, or all kinds of berries, fresh or frozen… it brings out the best in any of them. Flavour the cake itself with grated orange or lemon zest, if you like, or add a shake of cinnamon. Omit the sugar scattered over top if the fruit you choose is sweet enough – rhubarb tends to need a little help.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler Cake

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 cups halved or quartered strawberries (depending on their size)
2-3 cups chopped rhubarb (about 2-3 stalks)
1/3-1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and starting to get fluffly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, then beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir by hand or beat on low speed just until combined; the batter will be thick. Spread into a 9″x13″ pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and scatter the fruit over top. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake is golden and the cakey parts springy to the touch.

Makes 1 big cake – feeds lots