by 
Farmers’ Market in Zurich
There is a stand at the farmers’ market which I love and which often only sells two or three different fruits. It occupies a table which is barely more than a metre wide, yet there are always long queues of people waiting eagerly to get their hands on – what I think are – the best cherries and apricots in town.
Gooseberry Recipes
So far this summer, the children and I have been feasting on big, fat cherries from France; they are so juicy that, even with a bib, my children still manage to stain all of their clothes purple. But I have been enjoying them too much to care about the extra laundry duties.
Last week, while the children were helping the friendly vendor to select some cherries, I noticed an almost empty crate at the end of the stand with two lonely looking punnets of gooseberries.
I bought them with the intention of making a Gooseberry Fool, except the weekend came and went in a flash and the recent summer heat has made all of the fruit in our home ripen more quickly than usual.
So I turned to my trusty crumble cake recipe and made a delicious Gooseberry Crumble Cake.
Gooseberry Crumble Cake
Gooseberries, especially when they are green, are quite tart and are more suitable for cooking than eating raw.
This Gooseberry Crumble Cake is a lovely option as the sour berries are offset nicely by the sweet crumble topping. And even in this so-called heat wave in Zurich, no one can really say no to cake.
Gooseberry Crumble Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 140 g (5 oz) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 10 g (2 teaspoons) baking powder
- 50 g (¼ cup) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 1 egg
- 45 ml (3 tablespoons) milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 85 g (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 300-500 g (11 oz) gooseberries
For the crumble
- 40 g (⅓ cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 35 g (3 tablespoons) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 35 g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold and diced
To Decorate
- edible flowers, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (without fan).
- Grease and line the base of a 20 cm (8 inch) round springform cake pan.
- Place the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl.
- In a large jug or mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla and melted butter.
- Gently mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin.
- Gently wash the gooseberries, and top and tail each berry. Arrange the gooseberries on top of the batter, and gently press them into the batter.
- Make the crumble topping by placing the flour, sugar and butter into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the other ingredients with your fingertips until you have a mixture resembling wet sand.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping over the gooseberries.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the crumble is lightly golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before serving warm or transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- If you fancy, decorate with edible flowers.
Kitchen Notes
- OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
I have gone a bit gooseberry crazy recently, they are around for such a short time! I’ve made pies and fools and jam, but no cakes yet! This looks absolutely gorgeous, Thanh! <3
Thanks, Louise! This was my first time cooking with them. I had seen a delicious recipe for gooseberry fool which I hope to try soon 🙂
This looks so delicious Thanh! I love the finished cake, the gooseberries look so pretty.
Thanks, Angela! I can’t wait to make this cake again 🙂
This looks so beautiful, Thanh! I love that you combined a crumble with a cake – that’s so genius!
What a lovely cake! I sometimes come across gooseberries at the market but never know what to do with them. Thanks for the inspiration!
You’re welcome! Hope you will get to try this recipe one day 🙂
Such a gorgeous cake! I haven’t cooked with gooseberries before. They look amazing. Love your flowers on top.
Thanks, Tara! I was lucky to have mint flowers in bloom to decorate the cake 🙂
I’ve never had gooseberries before! I had no idea they are tart and better suiting for cooking. Learn something new everyday! Makes for a good excuse to try this crumble cake 🙂
Yes, the gooseberries lend themselves well to baking, and I’m always finding ways to make a different crumble cake!
This crumble looks so tasty! I absolutely love farmers market-inspired dishes!!
Thank you! I always end up buying more than I should at the farmers’ market – everything always looks so fresh and beautiful 🙂
What a beautiful cake! Can’t wait to try this when gooseberries are in season.
What a scrumptious dish! Love this recipe! Looks yummy!
This is an absolutely wonderful cake. We have a few gooseberry plants in our garden which have gone crazy this year and I have been looking for ways to cook with them. Everyone loved this cake and I will be making it again very soon!
I made this and it was delicious! I live in Germany and bought gooseberries in a glass jar and just drained them and also sliced one apple and put that underneath the gooseberries. My last tweak was to double the amount of crumble, as it looked so sparse and we all LOVE crumble! Will definitely be making this again.
I have a question though, if I was to double the amount to make a bigger cake, what size tin should I use and how long should I cook it for? These things always confuse me.
Hello Ruth,
My husband always asks me to double the crumble in all of my recipes too! To make a bigger cake, I generally make 1.5 times the recipe and use a 23-25 cm round cake tin. You will need to bake it for a bit longer – I generally wait for the cake to rise in the middle and be golden all over before I open the oven and check with a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake. I hope this helps 🙂
I have grown up with gooseberries and this is an amazing way to use up homegrown frozen ones 🙂
I agree! Frozen gooseberries (and other berries) are perfect in this recipe 🙂