Russian Season

We baked this delicious, summery cake for Mom’s birthday just the other day.

A luscious raspberry filling resting on a buttery sweetcrust base and topped with a layer of airy, delicate whipped egg whites, covered with tiny drops of sugar syrup. Those amber-coloured drops appear if you leave the cake overnight; you don’t have to apply them specially, just in case you were wondering:) Just because when people first see this cake they’re mostly interested in how we make these drops of sugar for decoration.

Actually, if you look at the list of ingredients, you will see that it’s very simple.

I have to warn you however, that when you bake this cake, the hardest part is not to eat it all in the process of cooking. Personally I can never restrain myself from having a bit of raw home-made shortcrust pastry again and again while I am busy with other ingredients. Then, the egg whites; whipped with caster sugar and vanilla, they could serve as a standalone dessert, I believe. And of course the sugared raspberries – so ripe and enjoyable. So I am sincerely happy for you if you don’t like raw sweetcrust pastry or whipped egg whites. At least you’ll be able to wait patiently till the cake is ready. I can’t.

Ingredients

- For the pastry:
450 g fine wheat flour
300 g butter (room temperature)
150 g sugar
4 egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla sugar
- For the filling and topping:
500 g raspberries
½ cup sugar
4 egg whites (cooled)
½ caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Cut the butter in large pieces and add it to the flour.

Start chopping the butter with a knife. It will mix with the flour as you continue chopping it. Go on for a dry, crumbly texture.

Add the egg yolks and sugar, mix together and knead the pastry until flaky, yet plastic. Do not knead it for too long, or it will become too stiff. When the pastry is ready, form it into a ball and leave it in a cool place for about 10 minutes.

Wash the raspberries and dry them with paper tissues. Mix the raspberries with ½ cup sugar, rolling the berries gently so that they don’t get damaged. Set aside.

Spread the pastry in a medium-sized baking pan using a spoon or your fingers. Don’t forget to leave approximately 5cm on each side for the edge crust.

Bake the pastry on a low heat for 20 to 25 minutes until light golden.
In the meantime, whip the egg whites together with caster sugar and vanilla sugar till thick and firm. Ideally, the egg whites should be ready exactly by the time the sweetcrust has baked.
Take out the baked sweetcrust and spread the raspberries on it, then top them with the egg whites.

Return the cake to the oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes over low heat, until the egg whites become light-golden.

Let the cake cool well before serving! We recommend leaving it overnight.
Enjoy! :)