Berrytastic Strawberry and Blueberry Cake

'Tis the season for berries, and how I love them!  Strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, blackberries and currants too, it makes my mouth water just thinking about them.

I tend to start the season, serving berries simply with cream, yogurt or ice cream, but as time passes and the fruits become more abundant, it's nice to try some different ways to enjoy these luscious fruits.

OXO Good Grips sent me this useful three piece berry bowl and colander in which to prepare and store my berries. The bowl had a nice stable base and is just the right size to store a punnet of strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. The matching colander is useful for cleaning your berries before you store them in the lidded bowl. Of course it's not only suitable for berries, but you can use it for rinsing and storing other food stuffs too.

I also received this neat little strawberry hull remover, it works best on large strawberries like the Sweet Eve strawberries from Berry World that arrived with the OXO products.

Three piece Berry Bowl set (RRP £15)
Strawberry huller (RRP £7)

Berrytastic Strawberry and Blueberry Cake

For the cake:
100g soft margarine
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
100g self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder

Heat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4 and grease and line a 7 inch cake tin. I used a deep cake tin to get one sponge but you could split the cake between two tins if preferred.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat well until blended and smooth.  Spoon into the tin and smooth the top.  Bake for 25-30 minutes if using two tins and 35-40 minutes for the deeper tin, test with a skewer which should come out clean when the cake is baked.

Turn the cake onto a cooling tray and leave to cool

For the topping:
1 punnet of strawberries
1 punnet of blueberries
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of water

Hull the strawberries, slice up 6-8 strawberries (depending on size) and heat gently in a pan with a tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water.  Simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved and the berries start to soften, crush the berries and cook for a further 2 minutes until jammy.  You should still have some juice left, leave to cool.

Cover the top of the cake with the 'jam', reserving a couple of teaspoons of the juice.  Arrange halved strawberries around the edge of the cake and fill the middle with blueberries, brush the berries with the reserved juice to add shine.  Serve with cream, ice cream or yogurt.

If you would like to win  these tools and a year’s supply of strawberries leave a comment on this post telling me "What is your favourite berry recipe"  The winner's name will be chosen by Random Number Generator on 15th July and then passed on to OXO Good Grips to be entered in a further draw (22nd July) with some other lucky entries, one winner will receive the berrytastic goodies. UK entries only please. 

I'm entering the Berrytastic Strawberry and Blueberry Cake in Let's Cook with Strawberries the blog event hosted by Simply Sensational Food.

I was provided with the Berry Bowl, Strawberry Huller and Strawberries to review, I was not paid and all opinions are my own. 

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

And the winner going through to the next round of the competition is no. 5: Recipes from a Pantry