Raspberetti Cake

A Raspberry Amaretti Pile Up.

This is such a great, summery mash up of a cake that I hope you can look deep within your forgiving heart and overlook its irritating portmanteau name. Great for gatherings and get togethers, the component parts can be made the day before and you can assemble it up to 4 hours in advance.

INGREDIENTS:

Amaretti Layers:

3 large egg whites (or 120g of egg white from a carton)

2 pinches of salt

225g white granulated sugar

225g ground almonds

75g gluten free self raising flour (or 65g of gluten self raising)

2 tsp almond extract

Cream Filling:

1 tbsp vanilla extract

250g mascarpone

400g double cream

150g greek yogurt (can be full fat or fat free)

30g sugar

Fruit:

350g frozen raspberries for the filling (you can use fresh if you have them)

2 / 3 tbsp amaretto or framboise or another liqueur you fancy

150g fresh raspberries for decoration

HOW TO:

• Line 2 baking sheets with non stick baking paper and draw two 7 inch / 18cm circles on one sheet and one circle on the other. These will be your guides for the amaretti cake layers.

• Add the egg whites to a large bowl with the salt and whip to stiff peaks.

• Add the sugar in about 5 goes and beat after each addition to make a glossy but relaxed meringue - it doesn’t have to hold any peaks after the sugar is added.

• Fold in the almond extract.

• Add the almonds and flour and fold through.

• Dollop 185g of the amaretti dough onto each circle on the baking paper.  Use the back of a wet spoon to smooth the dough out to fill the circles.

• You should be left with approximately 100g of dough, use this to form 10 small amaretti biscuits -  roll a small teaspoon’s worth of dough in wet hands and place them in the leftover space on the baking trays.

• Bake the two trays in the middle of the oven at 140ºc for 30 minutes, you can swap their positions after 20 minutes so they bake evenly.

• Leave the cake layers and the small amaretti on their trays until they are completely cool.

• While the amaretti cool, make the cream filling. Break up the mascarpone in a large bowl and mix in the sugar and the vanilla. Add the cream and beat everything together until the cream thickens. Fold in the yogurt by hand.

• In another bowl add the frozen raspberries and pour over the liqueur (if using). The raspberries can be used frozen, there’s no need to defrost them first.

• To assemble, place one disc of amaretti on your cake plate, spread a thin layer of the cream mix over then pipe a double wall of cream mix around the edge to contain the raspberries.

• Add half the frozen raspberries and then pipe over some more cream mix and spread to cover the fruit.

• Repeat the process with the next amaretti layer and the remaining half of the frozen raspberries.

• Top with the third amaretti layer and cover it with a thicker layer of cream mix.

• Pipe a blobs of cream mix around the edge of the top layer and sit in them, alternately,  the small amaretti biscuits and the fresh raspberries.

• Fill the centre with the remaining fresh raspberries.

• Make this at least 2 hours before you want to serve the cake, it can stand for 2 hours at room temperature or 4 in the fridge.

• You can make all the component parts the day before (the amaretti could actually be made several days in advance) and then you just have to assemble it on the day you want to eat it.

Tat x