Blackcurrant Cake with Pistachio and Coconut

This blackcurrant cake is a fantastic upside-down cake to try out. It’s full of enticing flavours including sweet pistachio nuts, tropical coconut and creamy vanilla. The juicy fruit is the crowning glory in this easy to make blackcurrant dessert.

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This blackcurrant cake started life as a loaf cake last spring. In theory, it was going to be gloriously gorgeous. A cake to be proud of.

Picture, if you will, juicy blackcurrants sublimely suspended in a soft and tender vanilla sponge cake crowned with brazenly pink blackcurrant glace icing. In fact, look at what I had planned for my blackcurrant cake. Yes, it was destined to be one of the finest blackcurrant recipes around.

But beautiful visions don’t always translate to reality.

There was a major problem that I couldn’t solve. Those pesky berries insisted on sinking to the bottom of the cake. I think I baked it at least 6 times, coating the fruit in flour, using fresh blackcurrants, then frozen ones, then defrosted currants, adding pistachio nuts and then coconut, sprinkling the fruit on top… All in a bid to help suspend the fruit. Nothing worked. They sank to the bottom in all but one of the test bakes. Then, when I repeated that rendition – to be certain I’d cracked it – the blackcurrants sank again. Oh heck.

In my ramblings on my about me page, I make a promise to my readers that the recipes that cannot be 100% relied upon to work will not feature on LittleSugarSnaps. This was one such recipe that I knew I couldn’t publish as it stood.

But by the final test bake, the cake had morphed from a basic vanilla sponge to one including ground pistachio nuts and desiccated coconut. It was better than marvellous. I simply had to find a way to make it work. Then, as blackcurrant season 2021 came and went without a reliable blackcurrant cake recipe to my name, the answer suddenly dawned on me. Why not do as those berries were blatantly hinting at me to do – adapt my recipe to make an upside-down cake instead?

And here it is. My upside-down blackcurrant cake with vanilla, pistachios and coconut. Am I sad to lose that gloriously colourful icing? You bet I am. But am I proud of the taste and texture of this final cake resulting from my baking misadventures? Oh yes. It was worth the wait… and the fails to get to this.

Why you’ll love this blackcurrant dessert

Now you know the evolution of this blackcurrant cake here are a few reasons why it’s a winning blackcurrant recipe:

• It’s so tasty thanks to those added ingredients (pistachios, coconut and vanilla).
• And the texture is superb – it has much more bite than a basic sponge cake does.
• The blackcurrants are clearly the star of the show and their tart taste is the perfect antidote to the sweet sponge cake.
• It can be served warm with cream, clotted cream (sigh) or vanilla ice cream.
• But it’s just as lovely served at room temperature alongside a cup of tea.
• This blackcurrant cake stays fresh for up to 5 days.
• It can also be frozen.

Can’t get enough blackcurrant recipes in your life? Then you need to look at the rest of my blackcurrant recipes. I have ice cream, sorbet, crumble, cordial, pie, a smoothie and even a luscious blackcurrant cocktail.

What are blackcurrants?

Blackcurrants are small berries that grow on bushes. When ripe they have a deep inky blue colour and soft pulpy flesh. Flavour-wise they are incredibly tart and tangy. They typically need to be sweetened considerably before being consumed.

Here’s a little more information about these juicy and tangy berries.

Where do blackcurrants grow?

Blackcurrants are native to Northern European countries and Asia.

They were farmed in the US until the early 1900s when a countrywide ban was introduced as currants were considered a threat to the US logging industry. Though they are no longer considered a threat, the effect of this ban has been long-lasting. In fact, not all states have lifted the ban. As such, blackcurrants are hard to come by in the US.

Blackcurrant or black currant?

Whether or not you prefer to talk about blackcurrant cake or black currant cake largely depends on where in the world you come from.

Here in the UK, we typically refer to blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants. However, in America, it is more common to see the same fruits referenced as black currants, red currants and white currants.

It’s just a minor difference in terminology when referring to the same fabulous fruits.

What are the health benefits of blackcurrants?

One of the main reasons blackcurrants are cited as being beneficial for health is the huge punch of vitamin C that each currant comes loaded with.

Aside from this, blackcurrants are reportedly good for keeping the gut and eyes healthy, fighting certain skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis and providing healthy fibre.

That said, keep in mind that many blackcurrant recipes, including this spectacular black currant cake, often include plenty of less wholesome ingredients, such as large amounts of sugar or unhealthy fats. Sadly, despite the natural wonders of those juicy currants, I cannot claim that this upside-down blackcurrant cake is remotely healthy.

Ingredients notes

There are a few important points to note about the ingredients for this black currant cake:

Blackcurrants: fresh or frozen fruit can be used but it must be at room temperature not chilled. Using frozen or chilled fruit will affect the required cooking time significantly. Ultimately, there is a risk that the top and side of the cake may begin to over-bake before the centre of the cake is properly baked.

If using fresh blackcurrants ensure that they are clean and pat them dry on kitchen towel. If using frozen blackcurrants, allow plenty of time for them to defrost and come to room temperature.

Ground pistachio nuts: these are not easy to get hold of, but making your own, using shelled pistachio nuts, is simple if you have either an electric coffee grinder or a food processor. If you own neither, feel free to use ground almonds instead. These are readily available in most supermarkets.

Desiccated coconut: This is dried coconut ground down to a relatively fine texture compared to shredded coconut. If you cannot get hold of it, use shredded coconut but pop it into a food processor and give a few short pulses to break it down a little.

Flour: I used plain (all-purpose) flour. It does not contain raising agents, so I’ve added baking powder and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Self-raising flour can be used in its place. In this instance, leave out the baking powder but keep the bicarbonate of soda in the recipe.

Soured cream: I’m a huge fan of using soured cream in sponge cake recipes to add moisture and tenderness to the crumb. Plain Greek yoghurt can be used instead.

Lemon juice: a splash of lemon juice is essential in this black currant cake recipe. It is used to help preserve the vibrant purple hue of the fruit in the upside-down topping. If omitted there is a risk that the fruit takes on an uneven blue tinge, which is much less aesthetically pleasing. Don’t omit it.

Step-by-step instructions

Full instructions are given in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Special note: before the baking of this black currant cake commences, remember to bring the blackcurrants, butter and eggs to room temperature.

1. Preheat the oven and grease and line a spring-form baking tin with baking parchment (base and sides).
2. Grind the pistachio nuts in an electric coffee grinder or food processor.

Important tip: it’s best to pulse in short bursts of 2-3 seconds to avoid overprocessing the nuts as this will turn them oily.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together using electric beaters until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
5. Mix in the soured cream and vanilla extract.
6. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and fold in using a metal spoon.

7. Fold the ground pistachio nuts and desiccated coconut in.
8. Toss the blackcurrants in the lemon juice and sugar then spread into the base of the prepared tin in a single layer.
9. Spoon the cake batter over the top, put the cake tin onto a lipped baking sheet (to catch escaped liquid) and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
10. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the tin then carefully invert onto a cooling rack, unclip the tin and remove. Pull off the baking paper and leave the cake to cool.

Expert tips

• Measure accurately. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be accurate when measuring cake ingredients. Use grams and a set of digital scales rather than cups. It’s a much more reliable method of weighing ingredients and gives much better results than the cup system.
• Use a spring-form tin. It’s the easiest tin to use for this recipe as it makes getting the cake out so much easier once it is baked.
• Lining the tin is mandatory. It is essential to line both the base and the sides with parchment. This step not only prevents the cake from sticking to the tin and makes getting it out easy, but it also reduces the amount of liquid that escapes from the tin during baking.
• Expect some liquid to escape. It is highly likely that some liquid will escape, so pop the baking tin onto a baking sheet with a lip around the edge to catch the dribbles. It’ll be much easier to clean the baking sheet than the base of your oven (says the voice of unfortunate experience).
• Use the right sized tin. Only a deep 8-inch cake tin will do for this recipe. A smaller tin will not hold all of the cake batter and a larger tin will affect the cooking time, result in a flatter cake and the layer of blackcurrants will look sparse.

Frequently asked questions

More blackcurrant recipes to try

Have you made this black currant cake? Did you serve it cold with tea or warm as a blackcurrant dessert? If you’ve made it please leave a comment and/ or rating below and don’t forget to share your gorgeous creation with me on Instagram (tag #littlesugarsnaps).

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