Marrying Gilbert Blythe: The Birth of a Birthday Cake Part Two: Raspberry Filling

So, I know, I've been lazy, but I've been trying to get my head around the insane amount of reading I have to do now. It's no wonder lawyers can't talk normal English, when it seems like all their waking hours are spent reading and writing and thinking in legalese.

More on that later though. For now: Raspberries.

For the filling, I used frozen berries, mainly because if you use fresh, you have to stew them before you puree them, and I was already so short on time that I just couldn't deal with it. I actually made this cake again last week for my Grandmother's 80th, this time using fresh, and I hated it, so I think I'll stick with frozen from now on.

So you get out all the pretty, Icicle-covered raspberries, and maybe spend 10 minutes taking stupid photos of them. This part is integral to the whole process, so make sure you do it.

See? It may not be functional, but it's somehow pleasing to the soul. And I'm all about the soul.

Then you puree the frozen berries, with just a tiny little bit of water (seriously, teeny tiny little bit - too much water will be a problem when you're heating them up later).

I almost broke the blade on my mother's food processor when I attempted to puree all the berries at once, so just do them in small parts, and that way you can get it as smooth as possible, and it actually ends up saving you time and effort.

When you're done, heat the puree up over a really gentle heat on the stove. Make sure the heat is as low as possible, and whatever you do, don't stop stirring, otherwise these berries take like 10 seconds to start burning on the bottom of the pot. (Yes, I learned from experience, I used two batches of berries before I got it right).

Wait until the puree is hot. A good method of checking this is to stick your finger in there. When it burns and you have to run around screaming for cold water, you will know that it's done. Then add some white sugar, and some corn flour, stir it through, and then leave the whole thing alone to boil. Once it's boiled, it should thicken up quite quickly til it's the right consistency.

You will know it's the right consistency when dragging a spoon through it causes the mix to part and stay parted for a few seconds. Of course, when I did this, all I could think of was the parting of the Red Sea (yes, i know it's not actually red, my mind makes funny connections, ok?) This of course led to me running around the house singing "Let my People go!" for about half an hour, and basically annoying the hell out of everyone else.

Anyhoodle, once the puree has become nice and thick, you have to leave it to cool. Now, the recipe says to leave it out to cool evenly, but patience is not a virtue that I suffer from. I stuck it in the fridge. And while a tiny (ok, huge) part of me was worried that I'd open it in 15 minutes to find a glob of raspberry jam (DISASTER!), it actually worked brilliantly, and I gained about half an hour of precious decorating time.

Once the puree has cooled right down, grab one of the cakes from last night, and plop it onto a cake board, and then spread the puree over the top of it, as gently as possible, in a layer that is as thick or thin as you want it.

Try and make the layer as even as possible, and try to stay about a centimetre away from the edges of the cake. This prevents the whole thing from running over the sides when you put the other cake on top of it.

Of course, I got a little to close to the sides, and so mine did overflow a little, but it's no big deal, just scrape around the edges with a butter knife, and remove the excess filling. At this point, my sister walked in and got very excited at the sight of what she called a "Raspberry Oreo". Which I guess it kind of is. Except huge. And cakey.