Gooseberry and Elderflower Mini-cakes

I am a big fan – BIG fan – of gooseberries. Ever since we used to pick them in the cow pasture in the farm I grew up on, I’ve loved them. I remember making my first gooseberry pie even – and the tart, puckery flavor that got me hooked.

Now that I live in the South, I seem to be able to get really exotic fruit from Asia from time to time, but it’s seemingly impossible to get fresh gooseberries. Even finding canned ones is rare! Thankfully, I’ve got a British goods shop in my neighborhood that carries canned gooseberries like the ones I used to pick in the field (this brand from Princes).

So though I would have liked to have had fresh gooseberries, canned is what I used. (Side note: if I had had fresh gooseberries, I probably would have prepped them by crushing a little and macerating in some sugar before adding to the cake, given they really are quite a tart fruit!)

I started with this very basic recipe at the Dartmoor Flower Shed site that included Elderflower cordial (one of my favorite things to make into a spritzer) – simple, very straightforward. But if you do the basics really well, they frequently become the go-to favorites time and time again, I find.

And I think this is exactly one of those kinds of recipes. My first thought when I took my first bite of this cake was how absolutely soft it was. So light and airy, I just wanted to keep eating it! So it’s in my “keeper” list to make again.

This really is just the absolute easiest cake to make. I used my favorite mini-cake pan, this Norpro cheesecake tin that makes 1 and 1/2-inch diameter cakelets that are the perfect size for afternoon tea.

I used a heaping tablespoon of the batter (it’s a thick one) for each well in the tin. And used my finger to just run around the top to press it down and smooth it out a bit. What you see above is what mine looked like before they went into the oven, and rose until just about the top or maybe a tiny bit over on one or two.

You can just about tell in this first row of cooling mini-cakes above that there’s a slight sugary crust from sprinkling some granulated sugar over the top just before putting them into the oven. Obviously the crust softens if you put these into an airtight container to store before serving. But if you bake and serve them on the same day, you get that lovely crust on top if you add the sugar.

I simply topped with a little sifted powdered sugar and a sugared gooseberry, and an edible flower (starting to sound like a lot of sugar, isn’t it?!). This really isn’t an overly sweet cake, however. And I think the cordial adds a nice depth of flavor – it’s just a great combination (I have access to Belvoir cordial, so that’s what I tend to use).

And as I said, this cake is so very soft – it may be that the lengthy mixing of the butter and sugar to add lightness, and then carefully folding in the flour and gooseberries helps it keep that lightness for a lovely texture.

Now, when it comes to serving for afternoon tea, I highly recommend starting with a little elderflower spritzer aperitif (for me this is simply cordial + sparkling water, maybe a little fruit – peach or whatever – to make it extra special). It’s quite common to start a posh hotel afternoon tea with a glass of champagne or cocktail – a little elderflower spritzer will wake up your palate and get your taste buds going!