Berry fiends like me are already moving on from terrific local strawberries to brilliant sweet-tart raspberries. Here, fresh berries fill both a simple citrus-scented cake popular in parts of South America, and a tiramisu — minus the traditional coffee flavoring. Lastly, I use raspberries as a twist on a classic strawberry milkshake.
Fresh Raspberry Torta Maria Luisa
Makes one 9-inch cake — serves 8
Introduced to me by my Colombian friend Orlando, Torta Maria Luisa is often filled with arequipe, which is Colombian dulce de leche. But I follow the lead of Orlando’s mother, Erlinda, by adding fresh berries.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra softened butter for greasing
1¼ cups cake flour, plus extra for flouring pan
5 large eggs, 3 of them separated, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
1½ teaspoons baking powder
Salt
3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
3½ cups fresh raspberries (about two 6-ounce packages)
2/3 cup raspberry jam, preferably seedless
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
With the rack in the lower-middle position, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Using the extra butter, grease a 9-by-2-inch nonstick round cake pan (at least 2 inches deep) or 9-inch springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment. Grease the parchment, flour the pan bottom and sides, tap out the excess, and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk 3 yolks and 2 whole eggs until uniform. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the sugar; in a large bowl, whisk the remaining sugar and lime zest until moist. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the lime sugar; to the remaining lime sugar, add 1¼ cups cake flour, the baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt, and whisk to combine. Add the egg mixture, orange juice concentrate, the 6 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
With a hand-held or standing mixer, beat the 3 egg whites and cream of tartar at medium speed until frothy. Adjust the speed to high and gradually add the reserved 2 tablespoons plain sugar. Continue to beat until the mixture is glossy and holds firm peaks, about 1 minute in a standing mixer. Add a quarter of the beaten whites to the flour mixture and, using a spatula, stir until just combined. Add the remaining beaten whites and gently fold to combine. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake until golden brown, springy, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Turn out the cake, remove the parchment, replace on the rack, and cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours.
In a large bowl, gently toss the berries with the reserved 1 tablespoon lime sugar until they begin to exude juices, about 10 minutes. Add 2½ tablespoons of the raspberry jam and fold gently to combine.
Meanwhile, using a serrated knife, halve the cake through the middle and set the bottom half on a plate. Spread ¼ cup raspberry jam on each cut side of the cake halves. Spread the fresh raspberry mixture over the bottom half, all the way to the edges. Position the top of the cake, cut side down, over the raspberry layer and press lightly. Serve at once or chill for up to 3 hours, dusting the top with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Raspberry Tiramisu
Makes one 13-by-9-inch tiramisu — serves 12
Keep in mind that the tiramisu needs a minimum of 6 hours to chill. If you prefer to skip the alcohol, omit the wine and the creme de cassis in the mascarpone mixture and dip the ladyfingers in 2 cups of pomegranate juice. This is inspired by a recipe in Nigel Slater’s Tender, Volume II.
4 large egg yolks
1½ cups heavy cream, cold
1/3 cup sugar
Salt
2/3 cup creme de cassis
1½ pounds mascarpone, room temperature
1¾ cups medium-dry or sweet white wine, such as Riesling spatlese
2 7-ounce packages ladyfinger cookies (about 42 cookies)
4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, grated (about 1 cup)
5¼ cups fresh raspberries (about three 6-ounce packages)
Whisk the egg yolks, ¼ cup cream, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, bring an inch of water to gentle simmer. Set bowl in pan (but make sure the bottom of bowl doesn’t touch the water) and cook, stirring constantly and scraping sides and bottom with heatproof spatula, until mixture registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 4 minutes. Remove bowl from saucepan and, off heat, stir vigorously to cool, then continue cooling to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Whisk in 1/3 cup of the creme de cassis. Add the mascarpone, 8 ounces at a time, whisking between additions until completely smooth.
With a hand-held or standing mixer at medium speed, beat the remaining 1¼ cups cream until it begins to thicken. Adjust the speed to high and continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 45 seconds longer in a standing mixer. Using a flexible spatula, gently fold a third of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until mixture is uniform.
Stir the wine and remaining cassis in a pie plate. Working one at a time, roll half the ladyfingers quickly in wine mixture and then arrange in a snug single layer in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, trimming ladyfingers as necessary. Spread half of mascarpone mixture smoothly over ladyfingers. Sprinkle two-thirds of the chocolate over the mascarpone mixture, followed by two-thirds of the raspberries. Repeat with remaining ladyfingers and mascarpone mixture, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours.
Before serving, rest the tiramisu at room temperature to lose its chill. then sprinkle it evenly with the remaining chocolate and raspberries.
Raspberry Milkshake
Makes about 3½ cups
For a fragrant note on this shake, adapted from my book Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes, add ½ teaspoon rose water.
1 cup milk, cold (not skim)
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
2 medium scoops vanilla ice cream (about 1 cup), softened until just melting at the edges
6 medium scoops raspberry sorbet (about 3 cups), softened until just melting at the edges
1¾ cups fresh or thawed frozen raspberries (about one 6-ounce package)
In a blender, blend the milk and jam thoroughly. Add the ice cream and sorbet, and pulse several times to begin breaking them up. With the blender motor off, use a flexible spatula to mash the mixture down onto the blade. Continue pulsing, stopping, and mashing until the mixture is well blended, thick, and moves easily in the blender jar, roughly 30 to 90 seconds. Reserve 6 beautiful raspberries, add the rest, and pulse several times to distribute, but not thoroughly integrate, them. Pour into a chilled glass or glasses, garnish with the reserved berries, and serve at once.
Adam Ried appears regularly on America’s Test Kitchen. Send comments to cooking@globe.com.