Rustic Raspberry Cake
Simple is hard. And it happens to be a big part of my day job. As a designer, I try to pare information down to its most simple form. Communicate only what is most important.
But the task of paring down, of achieving simplicity, is hard. And messy. And often uncomfortable. It means getting rid of things. Sometimes good things. It means making decisions. And most times it means putting more time in on the front end.
There’s a quote I love—Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry. Keep things clean & unencumbered but don’t sterilize (Leonard Koren, Wabi-Sabi).
Simplicity is an art form. It is to be clean but not sterile. To be simple but still poetic. It’s hard. Harder than it looks. But to that end, I’ll keep creating.
This brown butter, almond-y cake is dense and full of flavor. It wears a crusty top and hides a moist crumb. Its raspberries scattered throughout may be the most savored bites. But don’t take my word for it.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly butter the tart pan. Set aside.
- Add butter to a small sauce pan. Cook on medium to high heat until butter browns, swirling pan occasionally. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together sugar, almond flour, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in eggs and extracts to cooled butter.
- Add butter mixture to flour mixture and stir well until combined. Mixture will be thick.
- Evenly spread batter in tart pan. Carefully, or not so carefully, place raspberries into the cake. If you happen to drop in a few extras, it’s not such a bad thing.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cover with foil if browning too quickly. Allow to cool before removing from pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Or top with ice cream, whipped cream, or creme fraiche. I’ll let you decide.
Notes
• Substitute raspberries for blackberries or blueberries.
• Find out how to make your own almond flour here. Or buy online here.
That’s a really perfect quotation, thank you for sharing. One thing that I’ve realised the more I’ve cooked and baked and blogged is how much more I appreciate the simple recipes and simple food like, for example, this wonderful cake.
It sound soooo tempting. great recipe .Jalal
If one is allergic to all things nuts, what could I substitute for the almond flour and flavoring?
but once you get down to that essence, the simplest things in life are usually the most enjoyed. (i.e., a cold beer on a hot day) i will absolutely try this!
Loving this gorgeous cake, Melissa! Especially loving that you baked it in a tart pan and dotted it with raspberries. Beautiful!
This is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes the simplest recipes and cleanest flavours are the most memorable.
Such a gorgeous cake! Love the little bright dots of berries!
Its funny but that desire to be simple goes so far. My high school English teacher loved throwing Thoreau at us, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” It really does apply to a lot when you think about it, and life really is that much sweeter when you savor the simple things instead of getting overwhelmed by the busy things.
Ooh, so pretty.
I must say I’d hav a hard time getting the raspberries home intact to make this–usually I eat them all on the walk home from the farmer’s market. 
Maybe I’ll try it with something like peaches!
I had this relevation earlier this year when I tried some sautéed chichory drizzled with the pistachio oil I got as a Christmas present. So simple yet so good.
I like both things, though, really simple foods and dishes with a lot going on in them. It is good to be reminded that simple is good, though, sometimes I still forget.
The cake sounds delicious, I love almonds, and almondy sweets.
I love how your described simplicity, it reflects my inner self… Thank you for that. Your cake is beautiful, it has it’s own poetry… Great!
What a lovely cake. One question — I’ve made these kinds of fruit-dotted snacking cakes in the past, but my fruit always just falls to the bottom of the batter and becomes a red puddle of jam under the cake. I’d love to know how to keep them peeking out of the batter like in your cake.
Definitely know what you mean! Luckily, this cake is so shallow, it has no room to fall. However, lightly coating your berries in flour before stirring into the batter is supposed to help suspend them. Not sure if it’s fool-proof though.
Beautiful cake! I love the raspberry “polka dots”
Totally wishing I could reach through the screen right about now
This sounds so yummy! Love it!
I love the way this cake looks with all those little raspberry dots on top. Yum!
This looks absolutely delightful. Beautiful photographs too!