Blackcurrant Cake

This year we seem to have quite a few blackcurrants growing on the bush in the back garden.  I wonder if it is trying to prove its worth after the one at the front went to a new home due to never seeming to produce more than about 5 blackcurrants!

Mum made lovely blackcurrant pies and ice cream with the masses of blackcurrants in our garden when I was a child, but as my pastry making is, lets say, in need of perfecting (!) and as I have no ice cream maker I tend to bake mine into a cake.  Its been a few years since I had enough blackcurrants to make it but this recipe makes a gorgeous cake if you are wondering what to do with yours.  The recipe says 4 oz of blackcurrants but it doesn't need to be exact, I wouldn't put many more in but it will work perfectly fine with fewer if your bushes aren't that generous!


Blackcurrant Cake

3 ½ ozs soft butter or marg
7oz caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
8oz plain flour
2 level teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons milk
4 oz ish blackcurrants
small amount of granulated sugar for sprinkling

Cream butter/margarine and caster sugar together.
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Fold in flour and baking powder.
Add milk and stir in fruit.
Put into a 8in diameter cake tin lined with non stick paper.
Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake (350 degrees F, 180 degrees C, Gas Mark 4) for about 50 minutes.
Cool slightly and remove from tin

Lovely warm with cream or custard but equally nice cold.  If you only have frozen blackcurrants they work just as well, no need to defrost add them in to the mixture frozen.