150g (or ⅔ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g (or 1 cup) granuated sugar
2 large eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
200g (or 1½ cup + 5 teaspoons) all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
100ml (or ⅓ cup + 2 teaspoons) milk
For the topping:
300g (or 10 ounces) frozen raspberries, thawed
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (for the raspberry compote)
2 tablespoons water
240ml (or 1 cup) whipping cream
1½ tablespoons granulated sugar (for the whipped cream)
Instructions
Start with the cake. If you happen to have stale cake on hand, you could also use that:
First, preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F (standard oven setting) and line a 2-liter/quart loaf pan with baking parchment. If you don’t have baking parchment, you can use butter, but I prefer baking parchment as it makes for a crispier cake crust. Plus, if you use parchment, you can create little handles to lift the cake out of the pan once it has cooled.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. You could use a whisk or a wooden spoon, but I prefer a hand mixer. To all the lucky ones out there who actually own a stand mixer, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to use it.
Once the butter mixture is creamy, add the eggs one at a time. Make sure to beat in the first egg before you add the second egg. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the side of the bowl every now and then to make sure you end up with a smooth and pretty batter (aka: properly mixed together).
Add the vanilla extract and beat to incorporate. Combine the flour with the baking powder and the salt. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir in the flour mixture. You could use a mixer at this point, but only if you don’t mind a huge cloud of flour in your kitchen. Once the flour mixture has been somewhat absorbed by the butter mixture, give the batter a quick whiz with the mixer to make it nice and fluffy.
Gently add the milk to the batter and mix until it’s all combined. Give the sides of the bowl another good scrape with a rubber spatula and mix for another few seconds until the batter looks shiny and uniform.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place it in the middle of the oven and bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. Enjoy it as it is or leave to stand overnight until it’s nice and stale and ready to toast.
NOTE: you could toast straightaway, but the cake may fall apart in the pan.
The next day, start with the topping:
Place the raspberries, the sugar and the water in a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over low heat. Cook the fruit for 3 to 4 minutes until the raspberries start to soften. Take the pan off the heat and pour the raspberry compote in a heatproof bowl. Set aside. Whip up the cream with the sugar until soft peaks form. Set aside.
Cut the stale cake into 16 slices. Toast the slices, four at a time, in a large, dry (no oil or butter!) frying pan over low heat until they are nice and golden. Because there is a lot of butter in the cake, they will color quite quickly, so keep an eye on them.
Once the first side is beautifully golden, turn the slices with a spatula and gently toast the other side as well. Transfer the toasted slices to a plate and toast the remaining slices of cake. You don’t have to worry about keeping the toasted slices warm, as the crunchy toastiness is really what you’re after.
To serve, place two slices of toasted cake on a plate and top with the raspberry compote and a dollop of whipped cream.
Recipe by The Tough Cookie at https://thetoughcookie.com/2013/04/10/toasted-loaf-cake/