Raspberry Tray Bake

Feral raspberries put to good use!

     When we moved to our house ten years ago this week, the previous owners bequeathed us a couple of rows of Autumn fruiting raspberries, 3 apple trees, 3 gooseberry bushes, assorted current bushes and a wigwam of scarlet runner beans. There was lawn and other flower/ shrub beds too.
     I've managed to keep the lawn under control just, but the beds produce more brambles than they should, I'm not sure I'm a flower/ shrub woman.

     The fruit though I have tried to keep looked after. This year though the brambles engulfed the red & white currants and we missed the black currants, but we did manage to harvest most of the gooseberries.
     The raspberries are just loving this late sunshine. They have gone rather wild, feral really! But they do produce lots of fruit most of which I freeze and then make into jam. Some though do make it into baking
Half an hour in the rather wild raspberry patch yields a liter tub of these delicious berries, some scratches and a few nettle stings. It is all worth it though for this delicious cake.

Raspberry Tray Bake
This is adapted from The Aga Book by Mary Berry.
The one in the picture is a double quantity made in the large roasting tin.

2 eggs
125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
2tbs milk
175g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
100g raspberries

Line a deep Swiss roll tin or roasting tin 20cm x 30cm approx with baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C, GM 5.
Put the eggs, butter, sugar and milk into a mixing bowl.
Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix well until thoroughly combined. About two minutes in a mixer.
Fold in the raspberries and spread the mixture out evenly in the lined tin. 
Put the tin into the oven for about 20 minutes until the top is golden and springs back when poked with a finger.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then remove to finish cooling.

Raspberry Butter-cream Icing
100g soft butter
200g icing sugar
4-6 raspberries
extra raspberries to decorate

Put the butter in to a mixing bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together until light and fluffy. Add the raspberries one at a time until you achieve the desired colour.
Spread the icing over the top of the cooled cake and decorate with more raspberries.