Food: One Cup Raspberry and Pear Crumble Cake

This is a crumble in reverse. That’s to say there’s a smaller layer of fruit on top with lots of crumble underneath. And for those of us who think that a crumble’s golden, crunchy topping is the best bit… then I grant you pudding perfection!

We are making this tomorrow at Alice’s preschool and I will have eighteen little sets of hands to help me out. Like them, I’m sure this recipe will be patient, well-behaved and gorgeous! Truly, this is a great cake to make with little people as it can handle lots of handling and as long as you get the quantities right, it will always end up tasting beautiful. Grown ups will love it in warm little slices served with some natural yogurt and a pot of earl grey tea. You could even get away with serving it for a late breakfast.

One Cup Raspberry and Pear Crumble Cake

1 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup porridge oats
200g cold unsalted butter, diced
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup mixture of linseeds, pepitas or other little seeds
2 eggs, beaten
1 buerre bosc pear, sliced cored but unpeeled
1 cup raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan forced) and line a 24cm spring-form cake tin* with baking paper, greasing the sides too. Combine the flour, sugar and oats in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and with your fingers, rub it into the flour mixture. Keep going until you have a coarse, sand-like consistency. Stir through the coconut and linseed mix and separate about one cup’s worth of the mixture, set this aside for later. Mix through the eggs, again this can be done with your fingers. Press mixture into the cake tin and smooth with the back of a spoon. Press the pear and raspberries in a pretty pattern and top with reserved crumble mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden on top and firm in the middle. Let cool on a wire rack and serve.

*You could also use a lamington tin if you prefer to make this as a slice