“The raspberries tend to sink into the batter a bit as the cake rises, which is just perfect.”

Summer on Fat Pig Farm features almost 100 recipes alongside photos from Evans’ Tasmanian property, which will be familiar to views of his SBS television show Gourmet Farmer.

Yoghurt & Raspberry Cake with Elderflower Syrup

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
200g caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
Finely grated zest and strained juice of ½ lemon (1 tablespoon juice and ½ teaspoon zest)
200g (1½ cups) self-raising flour
200g (3/4 cup) natural yoghurt
150g raspberries
80ml water
150g sugar
1 tablespoon elderflower cordial (concentrate)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 20cm (8-inch) round cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. It may look a bit curdled but don’t worry, we’ll fix that. Gently fold in the lemon zest and flour and then fold in the yoghurt, too. Use a spatula to scrape into the cake tin, making the centre a little lower compared to the edges. Dot the raspberries over the top.

Bake for 30–40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

While the cake cooks, heat the water, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. When the cake is cooked, take it from the oven, but leave it in the tin.

Poke a fine skewer into the cake about 30 times all over. Remove the syrup from the heat and add the elderflower cordial, then spoon the syrup over the top of the cake. Try to spoon it so it soaks into the holes evenly rather than all soaking into the edges around the tin.

Allow to cool, then serve on a picnic rug, in dappled shade, in summer, or spring, or winter, or autumn.

Summer on Fat Pig Farm, by Matthew Evans, is published by Murdoch Books, $49.99