Mary Bilyeu | Contributor

It's National Raspberry Cake Day!  I know, I know — there's a food "holiday" for every tidbit out there, from frogs' legs to brownies. But it's fun to celebrate them.

But what, exactly, is a raspberry cake? One with raspberry filling between layers? One with raspberry puree stirred into the batter? One in which the cake has raspberries studded throughout?

Well, a raspberry cake, to my mind, simply features raspberries in all their gorgeous, sensuous, seductive, passionate glory. And so, I made a cake that would show them off to their best advantage.

The cake itself is a simple sponge cake, tinted with just a hint of pink because... well, why not? I use food coloring maybe once every three years, if that, but a pink cake just sounded right for this occasion. So that's what I made.

That it's summer — a perfect time for lemonade — also seemed to jibe well with today's festivities; so I flavored the cake a bit, and the glaze a lot, with raspberry lemonade. And the cake turned out so beautifully that a friend who enjoyed some told me it was so good that it didn't need whipped cream, or any other accoutrements — it was lovely all on its own.

Mary Bilyeu | Contributor

Raspberry Lemonade Cake

Cake:
3/8 cup butter, softened
3/8 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 drops red food coloring
2 tablespoons raspberry lemonade concentrate
1 cup self-rising flour
pinch of kosher salt

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons raspberry lemonade concentrate
1 cup or so fresh raspberries

Make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan; line bottom of pan with foil and grease the foil.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the food coloring and lemonade concentrate. Mix in the flour and salt, and pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let rest for 10 minutes, then turn cake out and remove the bottom layer of foil. Turn cake right-side up and cool completely.

Place the cooled cake onto a serving platter; tuck strips of waxed paper underneath it, covering the edges of the platter, to keep the platter clean.

Make glaze: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and lemonade concentrate; pour over cake and spread to edges, letting glaze drip down the sides of the cake. Let glaze set for 10 minutes, then arrange raspberries decoratively over the top. Let set completely before cutting.

Makes 8 servings.

The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured in this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers - when you come to visit here, may you always be happy.