How should you celebrate a summer BBQ party or your bestie's birthday? With a delicious fresh fruit cake and Champagne, of course!

 

This recipe is not so complicated to make, but if your time is limited or you just don't feel like cooking, you can buy a cake bottom from your favorite bakery and use a prepackaged vanilla custard to make things easier and faster.

 

Serves 4

Ingredients for the topping

1/2 pineapple quartered and sliced
300 g blackberries
300 g strawberries
1 jar apricot jelly

Ingredients and method for the cake bottom

170 g all purpose flour
170 g unsalted butter, softened 
170 g suggar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 vanilla bean

 

Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until combined. Scrape the tiny (and sticky) seeds from the vanilla bean and add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Add the baking powder to the flour. Alternate adding the flour, a few spoonfuls at a time, with the addition of each egg mixing well each time before adding more. Add milk and mix until combined.

 

Line your cake form with baking paper and grease with butter to keep your cake from sticking to the pan.

 

Pour the batter into your cake form and bake for about 25 minutes at 180° or until the cake is springy to the touch and a cake tester (or butter knife) comes out clean. Leave the cake in the cake form on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before flipping it out and leaving to cool. 

Ingredients and method for the pastry cream

100 g sugar 
30 g cornstarch
300 ml milk 
4 large egg yolks
30 g unsalted butter
1/2 vanilla bean 
1/2 tsp salt

 

In a medium bowl whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.

 

Heat the milk in a nonreactive saucepan just enough so that it is super hot but not bubbling. Add the butter, vanilla bean and half of the sugar/cornstarch mixture to the hot milk and whisk until dissolved.

 

Mix the egg yolks with the remaining sugar separately.

 

Temper the eggs and sugar by adding several tablespoons of the hot milk to the sugar. Be sure to stir constantly so your eggs don't cook.

 

Now pour the eggs into the hot milk, again stirring constantly. Continue to cook until it comes to a simmer. Simmer for about a minute. Remove from heat and take out the vanilla bean.

 

Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap and press it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming on top.

 

Refrigerate until ready for use.

Assembly

 

Melt the apricot jelly in a saucepan or microwave. Spread the pastry cream over the cake in a thin even layer. Top with the fruit and brush with the melted jelly to make a glaze.

 

Not so bad, eh? Now it's time to celebrate!