I often make up shopping lists based on recipes I read throughout the week and line up the plans to bake them at the weekend. Quite often though I become enamoured with a recipe to such extent that I have to try it asap, just to discover I’m not at all stocked for it. That’s where improvisation comes in. I’ve had my share of hit and miss experiences but lately, I’ve been getting better at it (must be all the improvising, huh?).

That’s exactly what happened here, with a recipe from Honey & Co’s The Baking Book. Amazing book, by the way; I absolutely cannot stop reading the recipes. The cream cheese turned into mascarpone, the lemon into grapefruit and the blueberries into raspberries.

I’ll have to try the original recipe soon, while fresh blueberries are still on the shelves. Cannot stop drooling over that cake yet. In the meantime, this spin on the original ingredients works in a totally wholesome way. Proof that you can absolutely make a recipe your own if you use good quality ingredients and a bit (or more) of experimenting.

You’ll need:
125g mascarpone cheese
250g raspberries
60g butter, melted and left to cool slightly
200g granulated sugar
3 eggs
160g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
zest and juice of a pink grapefruit
a sprinkle of granulated sugar to finish off

Preheat oven at 190C.
Butter and line a square cake tin – mine was 9 x 9in.
Cream mascarpone and sugar together, until sugar is dissolved.
Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating well before adding the next.
Beat in the grapefruit zest and juice, then add flour and salt.
Finally, mix in melted butter and half of the raspberries.
Pour into prepared pan and dot the remaining raspberries on top, pushing them at least 2/3 of the way into the batter.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes, turning the pan around for an even bake about half way through this time.
Leave to cool in pan, then remove and cut into squares.
Apparently cake keeps well for 2 – 3 days but we wouldn’t know, it’s never lasted more than that day.

Enjoy,
Alexis xxx