The summer is sadly almost over already which might mean that in some regions you might struggle to get gooseberries still but if you’re in luck, pick up a box – or go and pick some – and make this super easy and quick cake!

My work colleague Anamaria kindly gave me a box of gooseberries she picked in her garden the other day and I promised to bring them back to the office, in form of a cake.

She herself had made a nice cake not dissimilar from this one here and as I had some ground almonds at home, I opted for this sweet almond and sour gooseberry combination.

It was great on it’s own but you could also serve some whipped cream with it, if you want to be fancy…

For a small, 18cm, round cake you will need:

• 125g (= 4 1/2 ounces) butter, soft/at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar for the cake dough, plus 3 tbp for the gooseberries
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups gooseberries, washed and trimmed of their stems/tails
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees/gas mark 5

Butter and line a 18cm round springform cake tin.

In a big bowl, beat the soft butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy, using an electric whisk.
Add the eggs, one at a time – if the mix splits, you can add a tablespoon of the flour which should help to combine it again.
Add the vanilla extract, ground almonds, flour and baking powder as well as the salt and mix everything together.

In another bowl, toss the gooseberries with the three tablespoons of sugar.

Transfer the dough to the cake tin and pour the sugar coated gooseberries on top. Spread them out evenly and place the cake tin in the oven for 20 minutes. 

Remove the cake tin from the oven and sprinkle the sliced almonds over the top, then bake the cake for a further 10minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cake completely before removing it from the tin and enjoy!