Raspberry Poundcake

I went a bit bonkers baking cheesecakes this weekend. I had around 35 people over for a party on the Sunday and even though the co-organiser of this party had created a food  sharing list so organised nobody could possibly have more clarity on the parameters of their requirements, I panicked nevertheless and exceeded my baking responsibilities. I was supposed to make one cake and I made three.The first was my classic chocolate cheesecake. It's not mine actually, but Nigella's. I've made it so often however that I have pretty much co-opted it. I once made a chocolate cheesecake and gave to a community centre to auction it off for charity. It fetched nearly 60 quid and people there have been talking about Melinda's cheesecake pretty much ever since. I don't have it in my heart - or rather my ego - to disabuse them. My second cake was also a cheesecake and also Nigella's. A Nutella cheesecake. Take cheese, Nutella, and golden caster sugar, mix it up, dump it on top of a biscuit and butter base, cover with hazelnuts, and chill thoroughly. This cake is lucky if it gets a full chilling period as Nutella in my household never lasts longer than a few hours beyond its purchase. Which means this cheesecake is routinely consumed at its stickiest. But the third was a revelation. A pound cake. From a recipe torn out of a Sunday supplement. Why in fact does anybody buy cookery books these days? Admittedly, being married to a journalist does have its compensations, and one is the weekly delivery of every known Sunday paper to our doorstep. While he reads the news avidly, I consume the recipes. This one was a raspberry pound cake. I haven't bothered looking up the definition of pound cake so I am slightly at a loss to work out the difference between this and a sponge - this version is a little heavier, but otherwise the ingredients are pretty much the same - but OMG the lush stickiness of pouring half the mixture into the tin, piling in pounds of raspberries, then pouring the rest on top. It looks slightly doubtful as it goes into the oven. More like something you would put in a sundae dish. But, taking a risk is one of the more exciting reasons to attempt a new bake and even though I have broken the cardinal lunch party rule ie never make something that you have never attempted before, I close the oven door with optimism. And, I am not disappointed. I take it out an hour later, cool it, dust liberally with icing sugar, and watch with awe as it melts away on to my guests' plates even as my Nutella cheesecake sits, neglected, near by. OK, it is competing not just with my cakes but also the luscious offerings of my guests  - an amazing looking walnut cake, a pile of meringues, a tray of brownies etc etc. But still, half my guests are kids and another cardinal lunch party rule, practically Biblical in its origin, is that if you serve anything with Nutella in it, kids will flock. But the kids are entranced by our sunken trampoline and forage only for cans of Diet Coke, while my more mature guests fall on the raspberry pound cake. At the end of lunch my cheesecakes, slightly dented, go back into the fridge. But the pound cake is gone. It has been a hit because it has evoked Summer. Quite an important contribution given the soggy end to our heatwave. I would bet that if I served my chocolate cheesecakes again in 3 days time after a solid 36 hours of rain they would disappear in a moment. But in the meantime, I have a new one for my Summer dessert repertoire. Yay.