Method

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a standard (24 cm) round cake tin (or equivalent volume square tin) with baking paper. For the topping, mix the flour, cinnamon, sugar and butter, until you have the texture of rough sand. For the base, beat the butter with the sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs and sifted flour alternately. Fold in the flour, raisins and beer. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and sprinkle the topping evenly over the top. Bake for 1½ hours or just until a skewer comes out clean. At the halfway mark, turn the oven down to 160 °C. Let the cake cool slightly before attacking. Serve with lots of cream, ice cream or custard on the side. Or, now that I think about it, stewed, spiced apples might be nicest of all.

Recipe extracted from Lampedusa Pie by Andrea Burgener. Co-published by Pan Macmillan South Africa and Bookstorm.

Not in the mood to cook? Check out Andrea Burgener’s Melville restaurant, The Leopard.