Delia Smith raspberry crumble has 500g of raspberries and just a spoonful of sugar under a plain, buttery crumble, enough for 6. You sprinkle the fruit with caster sugar, spread the crumble over it with a fork, then bake it at 180°C. The whole pudding is ready in about an hour.
Delia printed it in The Delia Collection: Puddings in 2006, and her website still shows the same recipe. She calls it a lovely crumble for the summer months, when raspberries are at their best and also star in her summer pudding.
Unlike her almond crumbles, this one has a plain flour and butter topping, so the sharp, sweet fruit comes through. In spring she turns to rhubarb instead, and her rhubarb crumble recipe adds ginger and almonds.
Serve it warm, with cold pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. For a change, use her crumble with oats mix in place of the plain topping.
Delia Smith Raspberry Crumble with Cream
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings15
minutes45
minutes370
kcalSummer raspberries baked under a loose, crumbly mix of flour, butter and sugar.
Ingredients
- For the filling:
500g raspberries
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
- For the crumble topping:
225g plain flour, sifted
110g butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
- To serve:
chilled pouring cream or vanilla ice cream
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4. You need a round, shallow baking dish 23cm across and 4cm deep.
- Crumble: Put the flour, butter and light brown sugar in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like crumbs.
- Fruit: Spread the raspberries in the dish and sprinkle the caster sugar over them.
- Top: Spoon the crumble over the fruit and spread it out evenly with a fork, without pressing it down.
- Bake: Bake on a high shelf for 40 minutes, until the top is lightly browned.
- Serve: Serve warm with chilled pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- Without a food processor, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until crumbly, then mix in the sugar.
- She thinks it is nicest in a shallow fluted ceramic dish, but any shallow dish of the same size works.
FAQs
Can I use frozen raspberries for raspberry crumble?
Yes, and Delia says so herself in One is Fun!, where frozen raspberries let you make her raspberry crumble all year round. In that book she lists fresh or frozen raspberries and uses them in the same way.
Why does raspberry crumble need so little sugar?
Raspberries are much less sharp than blackcurrants, so she sprinkles only 1 tablespoon of caster sugar over the 500g of fruit. The rest of the sweetness comes from the 75g of light brown soft sugar in the topping.
Her older Complete Cookery Course makes the same point. Its blackcurrant crumble takes 2 tablespoons of sugar, but its raspberry crumble needs just 1.
Should you press down the topping on raspberry crumble?
No, not for this version, because she spreads the crumble over the raspberries with a fork and leaves it loose. It also has more butter than her other plain toppings, 110g instead of 75g.
Her older raspberry crumble in the Complete Cookery Course is the other way round. It uses 450g of fruit and a topping with 75g of butter, pressed down firmly and evenly, then baked for 30 to 40 minutes.
How do you make raspberry and blueberry crumble?
Her website has a Raspberry and Blueberry Crumble from the Delia Online Cookery School. It uses 400g of each fruit with just 1 tablespoon of sugar, and it feeds 6 to 8 people.
Its topping is her almond crumble, with 110g of whole almonds, 75g of diced butter, 175g of self-raising flour and 110g of demerara sugar. This time you press it down firmly and bake it on the centre shelf at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes. Then let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
How do I make raspberry crumble for one?
Her book One is Fun! has a Raspberry Shortcake Crumble for one, which she calls her master recipe. You need 75g of raspberries and 1 level dessertspoon of caster or granulated sugar, in a buttered 10cm ramekin.
For the topping, rub together 40g of self-raising flour, 20g of butter and 25g of light soft brown sugar. Press it down lightly over the fruit, then bake it on a high shelf at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes.
She also gives a nuttier topping for it. Rub together 50g of wholewheat flour, 25g of demerara sugar and 25g of butter, then stir in a heaped teaspoon of chopped toasted hazelnuts.
