Monday was the eve of my firm's (tutor group) first full 'night take' on our general medicine rotation. It's a 12 hour shift overnight including a fairly...intense(!), 6 am ward round. These night takes are somewhat of a rite of passage at the hospital so to celebrate/commiserate the occasion I felt some cakes were definitely required.
I wanted to make something delicious that would be colourful and cheer us up as we tried to stay awake through the night. I decided against chocolate as I thought it would be a bit to rich and heavy for the early hours of the morning so I went fruity instead, taking inspiration from the summer dessert 'Eton Mess'. Rather than the usual strawberries etc. I used raspberries and passion fruit, nice and tangy to wake us up!
The basic cake mix is a simple sponge with some greek yoghurt for added moisture and fluffiness, and some fresh raspberries stirred in for extra flavour. I topped them with passion fruit mascarpone icing, more raspberries, some crushed meringue and fresh passion fruit.
They went down a treat :)
The Recipe:
Cake mix
150g unsalted butter (softened)
150g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
3 eggs
2tbsp greek yoghurt
a few gratings of lemon zest
a handful or 2 of fresh raspberries
It will make 9-10 large cakes (like mine) or 12-15 small ones
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 4, 180 degrees
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one by one and beat in (add a little of the flour if the mixture looks like it's curdling).
Fold in the flour.
Stir through the greek yoghurt and lemon zest.
Add the raspberries and gently fold in (try not to demolish them too much).
Spoon into cupcake/muffin cases and bake until lightly browned and firm to touch (about 25 mins, it will depend on your oven and the size of your cakes).
Icing
Tub of mascarpone cheese
Icing sugar
Passion fruit (about 6)
Method
Cut the passion fruit in half and empty seeds and push through a sieve, collecting the juice in a bowl or jug beneath.
Put the mascarpone in a bowl and beat with a spoon or spatula to soften it a little ( I used half a pot for 6 cakes, how much you use depends on how much icing you want)
Add icing sugar and passion fruit juice to taste, the sugar dissolves into the mascarpone and loosens it - be careful not to add too much as the mixture will become very sloppy, (I reckon i used about a tablespoon for half a 250g pot of mascarpone).
Meringues
Best to make them the night before, if you don't want to make them just buy some ready made.
I followed Nigella's rule of 60 grams for every egg white.
I only needed one egg white's-worth of meringue.
Method
Whisk the egg white until it forms peaks but isn't dry, then add the sugar spoon by spoon, whisking in between until the sugar has dissolved in the egg white and the mixture is glossy.
Spoon blobs onto a baking sheet and bake for an hour on a low heat (gas mark 1, 70 degrees) then turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside overnight.
Don't worry if the meringues aren't beautiful, they're going to be crushed up anyway.
Putting it all together:
When the cakes are cool top them with a generous dollop of the passion fruit icing.
Add a few fresh raspberries.
Break up the meringues and add a few shapely shards then sprinkle over some of the smaller crumbs.
Finally, drizzle over some fresh passion fruit pulp and any left over passion fruit juice.
The cakes are best eaten soon after assembly as the meringue will loose its crunch if left too long.
Enjoy!
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