The Jordans Wildlife Garden and Jordans Mixed Berry Traybake

Cooking and gardening are two of my hobbies, and I was thrilled to discover that this July, Jordans Cereals is unveiling its very first show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Image of The Jordans Wildlife Garden is reproduced here courtesy of Jordans

‘The Jordans Wildlife Garden’ has been created by award winning garden designer, Selina Botham, to reflect a long-term commitment from Jordans to the British countryside. With a colourful variety of features from edible wild flowers, trees and hedges to oats, fruit, nuts and vegetables – all of which can be foraged from the countryside – the garden provides a natural 'larder' to share as a shelter for birds, bees, small mammals and insects. Its unveiling celebrates the belief that great tasting food comes from working closely with nature and is set to inspire gardeners everywhere to support British wildlife.

As part of the countryside celebrations, Jordans has enlisted the taste expertise of Great British Bake Off winner, Edd Kimber, to create a series of foraged food recipes inspired by The Jordans Wildlife Garden. The range of three exciting new recipes includes a tasty and easy to make Mixed Berry Traybake with Rosehip Syrup for a tangy finish and a Cherry Plum Crumble with Cobnuts – warming, comforting and packed with wild cherry plums and the wonderfully nutty flavour of British cobnuts. Completing the recipe lineup is a simple, delicious traditional English dessert – the Alpine Strawberry Fool – made using foraged alpine strawberries that can be found in The Jordans Wildlife Garden and in nature’s larder too.

As a foodie blogger, I was approached by Jordans, asking if I would like to recreate and test one of Edd Kimber's recipes. They all looked lovely. I have chosen Mixed Berry Tray.

This image is reproduced courtesy of Jordans

EDD KIMBER’S MIXED BERRY TRAYBAKE WITH ROSEHIP SYRUP (recipe reproduced courtesy of Jordans)

This tasty traybake is easy to make and can use any berry that’s in season or that you forage yourself.  The Rosehip Syrup adds a deliciously tangy finish to the cake.

This is my less glamorous version of the tray bake

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

300g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp milk

200g mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries,

strawberries) 

100g Jordans Super Berry Granola 

Optional ingredients

75g icing sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tsp of Rosehip Syrup

Method 

For the traybake, grease a deep 9x13 rectangular baking tin and line with a strip of parchment paper, leaving about a 2-inch overhang along the long sides. This will make removing the cake a lot easier later on. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan oven 160°C, Gas Mark 4.

For the sponge mixture, place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, for about five minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract and then one at a time beat in the eggs, beating each egg until fully combined before adding the next. Mix the flour and baking powder together and then in three additions add to the egg mixture, mixing until just combined. Add the milk and mix to combine.

Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread into an even layer. Scatter over the berries and Jordans Super Berry Granola and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown, or when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the sponge comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin before drizzling with the rosehip syrup.

If you want to add a bit of decoration to the traybake you can mix 75g icing sugar with the juice of 1/2 lemon, until you have a smooth, just pourable mixture. You can also add a couple of teaspoons of rosehip syrup to this if you like. Drizzle over the sponge to give a lovely finish to the cake. 

To make the Rosehip Syrup

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 3 hours

Makes: about 2 litres 

Ingredients

1kg rosehips, washed

1kg caster sugar

3 litres water

Method

For the syrup, place 2 litres of the water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Whilst coming to temperature, roughly chop the rosehips. This can be done by hand or in a food processor. When the water is at a boil, add the rosehips to the pan and bring back to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the heat and cover, allowing to infuse for half an hour. Line a colander with muslin and place over a large bowl. Pour the rosehip mixture into the muslin and allow to drain for an hour. 

Bring one litre of water to the boil and add in the rosehip pulp from the colander, bringing back to the boil and then simmering for another 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and again allow to infuse for half an hour before pouring back into the colander to drain. 

Once all the liquid has drained through, discard the pulp. Pour the rosehip liquid into the pan along with the sugar and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and boil gently for about 5-10 minutes until reduced and syrupy. Pour the syrup into sterilised bottles and seal.

Cook’s Tips:

If you are unable to buy rosehips, rose syrup is readily available from good delis and specialist food shops

Blueberries make a lovely alternative to blackberries, so feel free to go with whatever berry you can get your hands on

Any leftover syrup can be used to flavour cakes and ice cream or bottled to make the perfect gift.

As it's not the season for rosehips yet, I haven't made my own rosehip syrup. Lakeland, on the other hand, sells it all year round, if you fancy trying this traybake with the syrup.

My notes: I followed the recipe as it is. I was a bit worried about adding starwberries, as I thought they would make the bake soggy. As it happened, it did indeed need longer time in the oven than 45 minutes. I covered it with the foil to prevent from burning on the top, and cooked for another 15 minutes. I'd say it would probably work better without strawberries, or at least use wild strawberries as the are smaller in size and not so watery, or just use a mix of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. The addition of Jordans cereal gives it a nice crumbley texture and taste.

Disclosure: I received a box of Jordans to test and recreate the recipe