Raspberry Poke Cake

Don’t worry, this raspberry poke cake isn’t a technical bake, it’s more of a crumbly gooey fun cake to make and enjoy. It won’t take you too long, and the most arduous part of this cake is the fact that you have to wait until it’s completely cool to enjoy it.

So why would you poke a cake? With a warm drizzle of fruit jelly and a warm cake, the two combine to make a wobbly-ish fruit flavoured topping that trickles down into the inside of the cake. If you use a bright coloured jelly to pour on top of the poke cake, then it will be a lovely contrast with the plain cream colour of a regular vanilla cake.

I’ve based this recipe on my Plain Simple Vanilla Cake  so read on to see how easy it is to make.

Ingredients

• 150g Butter
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 3 Medium Free Range Eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150g Plain Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

For The Poke

1 bar of fruit jelly, dissolved in 150ml of hot water. I used Chivers brand but basically you need 200ml volume of warm, liquid jelly so a sugar free powdered jelly option would work grand too.

Method

Preheat your (fan) oven to 170 degrees Celcius. Line your baking tray with greaseproof baking paper. I used a deep dish baking tray measuring 26cm x 19cm.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition to make sure they are well combined. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a tablespoon of flour.

Pour in the vanilla extract, beat for a minute until it’s mixed into the batter. Finally, add the flour and baking powder, beat lightly until it becomes a pale, smooth mixture. Pour the cake mixture into the pre-lined baking tray, no need to smooth out the edges this will happen naturally during the baking process. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top.

Prepare the jelly so that it is warm and liquid. Remove the cake from the oven and using a cocktail stick, poke loads of holes over the surface of the cake. Slowly pour the warm jelly on top of the cake, while it is still in the baking tray. Do this in stages so it gets a chance to soak through into the sponge.

Set the cake to one side to cool completely before removing and serving. I topped mine with frozen raspberries and drizzled a little extra jelly on top while they were defrosting so it all looked fresh when I served.

This cake will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.