Raspberry, blueberry, and lime cake

For May's gathering of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, the theme was 'Treat yourself tea party'. Part of me just wanted to make a nice Victoria Sponge, but I made one for cake club in January, and I try not to make the same recipe twice. I thought, treat myself....I love raspberries and blueberries, so settled on a raspberry and blueberry cake with lime drizzle.

Ingredients:
225g margarine 
225g golden caster sugar
4 eggs 
2 limes, grated zest and juice
250g self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt
25g ground almonds
100g blueberries 
100g raspberries

For the syrup
6 tbsp lime juice
1 lime, grated zest
100g golden caster sugar

Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan).
Prepare two 20cm circular cake tins.
Cream the butter and sugar until really fluffy. 
Beat the eggs, and add to the mixture, adding a pinch of flour if it starts to separate.
Sift in the flour and salt.
Add a tablespoon of lime juice at a time, until the mixture is smooth.
Spoon into the two cake tins and level.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer poked in comes out clean.
While the cakes are baking, make the syrup - put the ingredients in a pan over a low heat until warm and the sugar has dissolved a bit.
Pour the warm syrup over the cakes (still in the tins) as soon as they come out of the oven. 
Allow the cakes to cool in the tin before removing.

Once cool, make lime buttercream:
40g butter
125g icing sugar
About 3-4 tablespoons of lime juice

Beat the butter, then sift in the icing sugar and mix. Gradually add the lime juice. Beat in the mixer for at least 5 minutes to make the buttercream really soft and fluffy.
Spread the buttercream over one layer of the cake, then sandwich the other layer on top.
To finish, dust icing sugar over the top.

This cake was lovely - light and fluffy, moist, and moreish. I was worried there would be too much going on, too many flavours, but they all went well together. It was well received at cake club - when everyone was filling their cake troughs before going home, I turned round and saw just one slice left - I had to barge in and grab it before it was all gone!

For more info about Clandestine Cake Clubs, click here.