Everything is open now, and time has started to fly. We've had a beautiful patch of warm, sunny weather lately, but it feels like the prelude to autumn nonetheless - a touch of chill underneath. We made a couple of blackberry picking forays while still on holidays a few weeks ago... I realized now the season was drawing to a close already... I dreamed of blackberry and apple cake, and this one fitted my dream perfectly. So I went blackberry picking once more.
I joined a new bee group, and there is a patch of brambles around the beehives, and you need a key to access where they are, so it's a good picking spot. The key wasn't where it was supposed to be, so I had to sneak in the back way - and the brambles were almost done. But I picked half a box. Turned out when I got back, I'd picked almost exactly the right amount for the cake. I'd also picked up the apples from a box outside someone's house.
for the cake:
2 small dessert apples
half a lemon
150 g blackberries
150 g butter
150 g golden caster sugar (or half caster, half muscovado)
3 eggs
85 g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100 g ground hazelnuts (whole ones, ground)
for the crumble:
50 g butter
50 g plain flour
60 g golden caster sugar
2 heaped tbsp rolled oats
pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a big loaf tin.
Peel and quarter the apples, core them and then slice them thinly. Squeeze lemon juice over them, and then mix with the blackberries.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Put the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl, add the ground hazelnuts, and mix well with a fork. Stir in to the mixture in two or three lots.
Transfer the batter to the tin, smooth, and scatter the apple and blackberry mixture over the top, pushing some of the fruit lightly down into it.
Make the crumble by rubbing the flour and butter together, and stirring in the sugar, oats and cinnamon.
Scatter the crumble on top of the cake and bake for about an hour until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out moist but fairly clean. Check after 30 and 45 min, and if the crumble browns on top too quickly, then cover with a piece of foil while the cake finishes cooking through.
Remove from the oven when done and let cool completely on a baking rack before removing from the tin and taking off the paper.
Mine took about 65 min to bake. The fruit dripped a little bit over the
edge (my loaf tin was rather full) - might be worth lining the oven
shelf underneath to catch sugary drips.
It was really really good though. The hazelnuts in the base are genius - they add so much depth of flavour and texture, and go really well with the blackberry and apple. I made a similar cake not long ago without the blackberries and hazelnuts - this one is superior (and didn't overflow my loaf tin quite as much).
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