Black Forest Bundt

My little Toyota had its MOT & Service last week. What with the clutch and the catalytic converter needing attention, and the wiper blades being long overdue for replacement, this wasn't cheap. ["Your front tyres ought to be replaced fairly soon, but they have passed for now- we could fit new ones today if you like" "Errm, thanks but no, I'll wait a bit I think...."] In combination with 'being deactivated' I felt the purse strings tightening like a noose. I went into full-on mega-thrift-mode.  "We cannot spend anything we don't have to" I declared "We will eat the fresh food we have in fridge, and then I'll break into the Brexit stash of tins. I'm glad I got Jack's book now. Expect unusual meals". 
Bob laughed - for forty years he has never expected anything else. 

And then I remembered- we were going for a BBQ with friends and I'd volunteered to take a dessert. I surveyed the fridge. There was half a pot of cream in the fridge [Bob had purchased that, along with some yellow-stickered strawberries just before the MOT] In the freezer was the remains of a bag of frozen forest fruits - barely a cupful. I wanted something sort of cake-like, to serve with whipped cream.  
I sat down with my Rachel Allen "Bake" and looked for inspiration. Here's what I cam up with - I used her chocolate and vanilla marble cake- but skipped the vanilla and the marbling. And I made it in my small Bundt pan [the story of Bundt is here]

True Nordic-ware Bundt pans are brilliant because their shape makes the cakes look truly spectacular without the need for fancy decorations.
By putting two layers of the fruits in the mixture, I got a rich chocolatey, fruity pud reminiscent of a retro Black Forest Gateau. 

With a dusting of icing sugar, it looked good. I whipped the cream and served it in my pretty Dartington Daisy Dish. This would have served 6 - but we were only 4, so we shared the remaining third. It tasted fine. I wasn't sure how much mixture I'd need, so put the remainder into a mini-loaf pan, with a spoonful of fruit swirled in. That's in the freezer, for an emergency pud!

Black Forest Bundt

Serves : 6-8         Cook : 45 minutes            Prep: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

225 g butter, at room temperature

225 g caster sugar

4 eggs

225 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

50 ml milk

70 g cocoa powder, sifted

125g ‘forest fruits’ [if frozen, then allow to defrost]

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/165°fan. Butter the sides of a 20cm cake tin and dust with cocoa powder line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl. Gradually add the eggs to the butter mixture, beating all the time. Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and fold in gently to mix, then add the milk and mix gently to combine.
4. Place the cake mixture into the prepared tin till half full. Gently spoon half the fruit evenly over the top. Now fill the tin almost to the top with mixture, and spoon the remaining fruit over. If there’s any cake batter left, bake that in muffin cases, or a mini loaf tin. Bake 45min at 180/160fan.

5. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and allow to cool before serving. Dust with icing sugar.

[Adapted from Rachel Allen ‘Bake’]

We had a lovely evening, relaxing outside in our friends' beautiful garden [and I remembered to put on insect repellent!]