Simple sponge cake with berries and crumble topping

Prep time: 20 mins     Bake time: 1 hr

Makes: 12 generous slices

A simple sponge cake with summer berries - light and fluffy with a crunchy topping of walnuts. Delicious addition to your afternoon tea on a hot day. It has a perfect balance of sweetness and freshness from the berries and it is paired with a little bit of warm ginger.

You can play with the recipe and replace the mix of berries with your favourite one (be it blackberry or raspberry) and you can also swap the ground ginger with cinnamon. It is a very versatile recipe you can make a new cake each time you bake!

For the cake:

160 g caster sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

115 g butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

240 g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp ground ginger

350 g summer berries - fresh or frozen (do not thaw!) - I use raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrants and redcurrants

1 tsp icing sugar, for icing (optional)

For the crumble:

30 g plain four

50 g dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

70 g walnuts, chopped (you can substitute for sliced almonds)

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1. Line 23 cm (9") round springform tin with parchment paper.

2. For the crumble: combine all the dry ingredients together. Mix in melted butter. Set aside.

3. For the cake: beat caster with butter until light and creamy in a food mixer or with a wooden spoon. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

4. Sieve (or whisk) flour with ground ginger. Add to butter and egg mixture and mix well with a wooden or metal spoon along with vanilla extract. Do not overmix (the crumb will be lighter)!

5. Put the batter in the tin, layer the berries (fresh or frozen). Scatter the crumble over the top.

6. Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated to 170*C oven for 1 hour.

7. Let it cool slightly, dust with icing sugar if desired, serve!