Raspberry and Redcurrant Buttermilk Layer Cake
We like to think of berries as the jewels of the natural world and love how they adorn this layer cake like a crown. The tartness of the buttermilk, raspberries and redcurrants in the pillowy sponge offsets the sweetness of the buttercream and brings a beautiful pop of colour with every slice. Reminiscent of a beloved Victoria Sponge, it really is a cake fit for royalty – or that someone special in your life!
SERVES 10–12
345g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
420g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp fine salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
400g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, plus 2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
200ml buttermilk (alternatively, mix 60ml whole milk with 140g natural yoghurt)
150g fresh raspberries
150g redcurrants
For the buttercream
300g unsalted butter, softened
625g icing sugar
70ml buttermilk (alternatively, mix 20ml whole milk with 50g natural yoghurt)
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of fine salt
For the filling
100g raspberry jam
100g redcurrant jelly
To decorate (optional)
freeze-dried raspberry powder or pieces
fresh raspberries
fresh redcurrants
coconut shavings
dried rose petals
pomegranate seeds
sprigs of fresh rosemary
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line three 20cm cake tins with baking paper. Dust the greased edges of the tins with a little flour, tapping out any excess.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and mix together.
In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, egg whites and vanilla extract (it will look a little separated, but don’t worry – it will come back together once the flour has been added). Gently mix in the flour, followed by the buttermilk and mix until there are no lumps left.
Fold the raspberries and redcurrants into the batter and evenly spoon it into the cake tins, smoothing the tops out with a spatula. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes until the sponges spring back to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Leave the sponges to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream. In a large bowl, beat the butter until soft, then gradually add half of the icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, beating it in between each addition. Mix in the buttermilk, vanilla and salt, then beat in the other half of the icing sugar.
In another small bowl, stir together the raspberry jam and redcurrant jelly to loosen and combine them.
When the sponges are completely cool, trim the domed tops off with a bread knife to make them flat. Reserve the cake you trimmed off and crumble it onto a baking tray. Bake the cake crumbs in the oven at 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4 for 5–10 minutes until crisp.
Place a cake board or serving plate on a turntable or work surface (see tip here) and smear a little buttercream on the top. This buttercream will act as ‘glue’ and stop the cake from sliding around. Peel off the baking paper from the sponge layers and place the first sponge layer, cut-side up, on the cake board or plate. Spread a quarter of the buttercream on the top of the sponge, going right to the edge. Leave an indent in the middle of the buttercream and fill it with half of the jam filling, spreading it to about 2cm away from the edge of the cake.
Place a second sponge layer on top of the buttercream, cut-side down. Spread another quarter of the buttercream on the top of this second layer, pushing it just over the edge, followed by the remaining jam filling.
Place the third sponge layer on top, cut-side down. Spread another quarter of the buttercream on the top of this layer, pushing it just over the edge.
Spread the final quarter of the buttercream around the sides of the cake, until the whole cake is covered in an even layer of buttercream and any gaps are filled. Place a bench scraper at a 90-degree angle against the side of the cake (see tip, below) and turn the turntable (or your plate) to smooth the sides flat and create a patchy or ‘naked’ look to the icing on the sides of the cake. (Don’t worry if you push some buttercream onto the top of the cake).
To finish the cake with a smooth, 90-degree angle on the top, use a palette knife to neatly drag the top edge of buttercream into the middle of the cake.
To decorate, mark out a Luminary crescent moon shape on the top of the cake using freeze-dried raspberry powder, tapering off the ends – this will be your guide for the rest of the toppings. Place chunks of the baked cake crumble at intervals around the crescent shape, with the largest pieces at the widest section of the moon and smaller pieces towards the ends. Repeat with the raspberries and redcurrants, draping them across the top. Finally, place the coconut pieces, rose petals, pomegranate seeds and rosemary sprigs in among the fruit, spacing them evenly and keeping the ends of the moon shape tapered.
TIP
At Luminary, we use a few of bits of equipment only keen cake makers usually own: a turntable, a small palette knife and a bench scraper. They make getting a perfectly smooth finish on a cake a lot easier and are well worth the investment if you decorate cakes regularly. If you don’t have these to hand, instead of a turntable, you can place the cake on a large, flat plate and rotate it on your work surface. A butter knife and spatula are sufficient instead of a palette knife. And don’t worry about the bench scraper – you’ll be fine without!
