Raspberry Buckle

I don't like raspberries, but the horde is ok with them. So, when I learned that the local garden centre had PYO raspberries ripe and ready it struck me as the perfect way to entertain the kids for a while. I figured I could try my hand at a raspberry pie. Unfortunatley I've had trouble finding shortening here, so a pie crust would be hard to make. I stumbled across a Raspberry Buckle recipe from Martha Stewart
and decided it would be a good alternative.

First to collect the raspberries. I admit I may have been a bit picky, telling the kids to pick only the plumpest, only the reddest raspberries. No mushy ones, none with any green on them. Which meant after half an hour they had only filled up half their punnets. Oops. Time to relax the rules a bit. Soon, we had two full punnets at £3.96 a kg. Time to go!


After we got home, Olivia pulled the stalks out for me, discarding any "yucky" ones as she went. This is a lovely and simple recipe. I made it after I came home from work last night. First things first, to let the butter come to room temp. I ate a tuna sandwhich while I waited. Then to cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and beat. Then in another bowl I stirred together flour, baking powder and salt, then mixed it all together. The recipe says to use an oval or square dish, I of course only have round ones. I buttered my dish, poured the batter in, and then spread the raspberries on top. Then into the oven for the required 45-50 minutes. Now, using a round dish meant that the batter was more concentrated. After 45 minutes I checked it and it was brown, but not quite done. I covered it and gave it another 10-15 minutes.

I'm not sure I liked how it came out, certainly not like the one in the picture! It was nice and puffy on the edges, with a lovely golden brown color. But the center had fallen in, and was a dark brown. Well, looks arent everything, right? Besides it was my first time- so I gave myself a break. My husband seemed to like it. (I don't think he really likes anything I bake...) I tried it and it really enjoyed the cake part, but I hated the raspberries, alot. Hmm.


This morning the horde descended and I whipped up some cream, with a bit of powdered sugar to sweeten it and served up raspberry buckle for breakfast. They ate every bite and asked for more, right after telling me how much they loved it. Since I hated it, it was nice to hear that it actually is pretty good. But, I think next time I'm going to use strawberries instead. You just can't beat strawberries.

I think it's difficult to work with an ingredient that you don't like, as obviously it's hard to tell how you've done. But, I will use raspberries again as this time they've had a good reception. Perhaps I can make a half strawberry/ half raspberry buckle...