Pack your picnic basket

STRAWBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE ALMOND CAKE

SERVES 6. PREP 30 MINS. COOK 2 HOURS

INGREDIENTS

• 100g almond meal

• 160g pure icing sugar, sifted

• 50g rice flour

• 30g white chocolate, very finely chopped or whizzed in a food processor

• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• 4 egg whites

• 140g unsalted butter, melted, cooled

• 150g strawberries, hulled, halved (if large, quartered)

• Natural yoghurt, to serve

MACERATED BERRIES

• 125g punnet blueberries

• 125g punnet raspberries

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• Zest of ½ an orange

• ¼ bunch mint, leaves picked

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 160C. Grease the base and side of a 20cm springform cake pan and line with baking paper.

2 Combine almond meal, icing sugar, rice flour, white chocolate and vanilla seeds in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3 In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg whites and add the melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing well. Pour the mixture into prepared pan.

4 Lay strawberries evenly over the top of the cake (they will sink slightly into the mix). Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until golden brown.

5 For the macerated berries, combine the blueberries, raspberries, caster sugar, lemon juice and vanilla seeds in a bowl. 6 Stand for 30 minutes at room temperature. Just before serving, add the orange zest and mint and lightly mix. Serve cake with a generous spoonful of macerated berries, with yoghurt alongside.