Recipe: Easy Rhubarb and Raspberry Cake

I like baking a lot, but with two kids in tow, I definitely don't have as much time to do it these days. That said, even before the kids came along, I was always a fan of the 'One Bowl Plan'. Are you familiar with that one? That, em, 'technique' involves flinging all of your ingredients into one bowl and one bowl only for mixing, and then transferring them to whatever baking vessel they will ultimately go to the oven in. I'm talking low maintenance baking at it's best; it's the only way with small kids in my opinion. This gorgeous cake recipe is just that - a low maintenance, one bowl mix and the result is a really moist cake that is just perfect with a dollop of custard and a cup of tea. Enjoy! Ingredients: 125g butter 300g caster sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 250g plain flour 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 250ml buttermilk (when I don't have buttermilk, which is ALWAYS, I put a tablespoon of lemon juice into the 250ml of milk for about half an hour before using it) 250g (or, a few stalks) rhubarb, chopped 150g (or, a right handful) raspberries, chopped [caption id="attachment_229166" align="alignnone" width="780"] Chopped rhubarb and raspberries going into the mixture[/caption] Method:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla
3. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt
4. Add the buttermilk
5. Toss the rhubarb and raspberries into the cake mixture
6. Spoon the cake mixture into a buttered baking tin (a 9inch round tin will do) and smooth the surface
7. Rub 50g butter, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 115g brown sugar and 2 tablespoons plain flour together until crummy
8. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the cake mixture
9. Bake at 180 C / Gas 4 for 45 minutes
10. Scoff as soon as you can!

[caption id="attachment_229165" align="alignnone" width="788"] Crumble on top before going into the oven[/caption] Got any low-maintenance recipes to share? Email them to me at Sharyn.Hayden@HerFamily.ie