Blackberry and almond crumble squares

Much as I love summer, autumn can also be a fantastic season: beautiful colours and lots of fantastic autumnal fruit ready to be harvested. For me, one of autumn’s greatest pleasures is blackberrying: it’s something that we did as a family, scrambling around the cliffs of Guernsey, eating more blackberries than actually made it into the tubs!  This year seems to have been a bumper year for blackberries and so EHH and I spent a fab afternoon on the outskirts of Bath, clambering into the middle of bramble bushes in search of big juicy berries.

We returned home with a good haul of blackberries and so the next decision was what to make with them! Blackberry and apple crumble was an absolute must but I also fancied making a cake. I’ve made a few crumble cakes recently (rhubarb and marzipan crumble cake; raspberry and apple crumble squares) but wanted to make something new. I was planning to visit a friend who has just had a baby so the oats in this Good Food recipe seemed like a good idea.

The original recipe was blackberry and coconut but I’m generally not sure about dessicated coconut in a cake as it can be rather dry, so I decided to substitute the coconut with ground almonds. I also upped the quantity of oats (and lowered the flour accordingly) and added the additional grated marzipan (this gives fantastic crunch and sweetness to the crumble topping) and chopped hazelnuts (just because I love the nutty flavour and crunchy texture that these add).

This cake was simple to make but I was a little worried that the mix that went in the oven was rather dry and not at all like a typical cake! Don’t be concerned by this – it works out just fine! Judging when the cake is cooked is probably the trickiest part: the crumble topping means that you can’t test the springy-ness of the cake. You will need to test the cake with a metal skewer: the cake will be cooked when the skewer comes out clean, with no sticky cake mixture attached. Make sure that you test in several parts of the cake. On this occasion, I forgot to use my magi-cake strips, which meant that the cake was slightly over-baked at the edge – must remember these next time!

This isn’t a light and fluffy cake: the texture is something between a cake and a flapjack; it's possible that this is due to the addition of ground almonds rather than coconut. The blackberries add a nice sharp flavour contract to the oatiness of the cake. These cakes aren’t particularly sweet – they’d actually work quite well as a tasty and filling oaty breakfast snack. It would work well as a dessert with custard and some more berries, or if I were to serve for afternoon tea, it would be nice served with clotted cream and berries. On the day of baking, the crumble topping was fantastic – crunchy and crumbly with lots of flavour. Unfortunately, after a day, it lost most of its crunch as the moisture from the blackberries seeped up into the topping. However, although they weren’t as good as they were on the day due to the loss of the contrast in textures, these cakes did last well for over a week. 

I think if I were to make these again, I’d consider adding more fruit – possibly a couple of sliced Granny Smith apples. Having recently made a fantastic carrot, pistachio and coconut cake, I’ve been swayed in my opinion about dessicated coconut and would like to give it a go in this cake.

Blackberry and almond crumble cake

Ingredients

Cooling on the rack

1. 200g self-raising flour
2. 75g oats
3. 280g soft brown sugar
4. 200g cold butter, cut into pieces
5. 75g ground almonds / desiccated coconut
6. 75g grated marzipan (optional)
7. 30g chopped hazelnuts
8. 2 medium eggs, beaten
9. 350g frozen or fresh blackberries

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C.
2. Line a rectangular brownie tin (31 x 17cm), or a 21cm square tin.
3. Tip the flour, oats and sugar into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips until only small pea-size pieces remain.
4. Stir through the coconut/almonds.
5. Fill a teacup with this mixture and set this aside.
6. Stir the eggs into the remaining bowl of mixture and mix until evenly combined.
7. Spread over the bottom of the lined baking tin, smoothing the surface with the back of a spoon
8. Scatter over the blackberries.
9. Scatter over the reserved teacup mixture of crumble.
10. Scatter over the grated marzipan and chopped hazelnuts.
11. Place in oven and bake for 1 hr-1 hr 15 mins until golden and cooked through (if you poke a skewer in, it should come out with moist crumbs but no wet mixture). 
12. Leave to cool, then remove from the tin and cut into squares.

Chocolate and raspberry brownies

Wow! It’s been ages since I last wrote a blog post! Don’t worry – I’ve been making and eating lot of cake in this time, just haven’t gotten around to writing it up!

So, going back a couple of weeks, a very good friend had just given birth to her first baby and so, of course, I wanted to make cake for her and her husband. They don’t live nearby and so I had to post the cake – so no cupcakes, or anything else delicate! I’d recently been given a chocolate and raspberry brownie recipe from a friend (strangely, I had cut out the exact same recipe from Good Food recently!) and so decided that this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go! The only thing that I changed to this recipe was the addition of 100g of white chocolate chunks - just to add an extra dimension!

I’m not much of a chocolate cake fan and I generally find brownies too rich, however, raspberries are just the perfect addition to brownies – they really cut through the richness. These brownies are definitely a treat – just try not to think about the amount of sugar, butter and chocolate in the recipe! They are very simple to make but do be careful of adding the eggs too early – you need to allow the melted chocolate mix to cool, otherwise the eggs will cook in the heat of the chocolate!

In the past, I have found brownies tricky – getting the outside crisp and the inside set but gooey! This gave me the perfect opportunity to dig out a baking tray that I hadn’t yet used (bought on impulse when Lakeland had a 3 for 2 offer on their baking tins!) – a Lakeland individual tray bake tin. A quick spray of cake release spray over the tin and it was ready to go. There was a reasonable amount of mixture that wouldn’t fit into the tray, and so I used this to fill some mini loaf cake cases and just popped these into the oven at the same time.     

As the brownies were in the individual traybake tin, I decided to reduce the baking time by 5 minutes and this turned out to be perfect – the brownies came out crisp on the outside and gooey inside – perfect! I left them to cool for a while in the tin and then eased them out and onto a cooling rack.

I wrapped these in clingfilm and popped them in a box and into the post for my friends. Annoyingly, despite paying first class postage, they didn’t arrive until 6 days later. She claimed that they were still delicious, however, whether they truly were, whether she was being kind, or whether she was in that early motherhood, sleep deprived state that meant that any cake was good cake, I’m not sure!  The one that I had, a couple of days after baking, was really tasty and a really good texture! I’ll definitely be making these again!   

Chocolate and raspberry brownies

Ingredients

1. 200g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
2. 100g milk chocolate, broken into chunks
3. 100g white chocolate, broken into chunks
4. 250g pack salted butter
5. 400g soft light brown sugar
6. 4 large eggs
7. 140g plain flour
8. 50g cocoa powder
9. 200g raspberries

Method

1. Heat oven to 170C.
2. Line a 20 x 30cm baking tray tin with baking parchment OR spray an individual traybake tin with cake release spray.
3. Put the dark and milk chocolate, butter and sugar in a pan and gently melt, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Stir the eggs, one by one, into the melted chocolate mixture.
6. Sieve over the flour and cocoa, and stir in.
7. Stir in half the raspberries and half of the white chocolate chunks, scrape into the tray, then scatter over the remaining raspberries and white chocolate.
8. Bake on the middle shelf for 30 mins (25 if you are using the individual traybake tin) or, if you prefer a firmer texture, for 5 mins more.
9. Leave in tin to cool before slicing into squares.
10. Store in an airtight container.

Raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake

During Easter week, EHH’s parents came over to help us tackle the garden. I needed something fairly simple that I could whip up in the morning before they arrived, as I was playing netball the night before. I had a flick through my recipe file and found this recipe for raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake from BBC Good Food. I first made this last summer and it was delicious, but slightly too sticky. Therefore, this time, I decided to reduce the amount of syrup. Having read the comments on the website, I also decided to coat the fruit in flour to prevent them from sinking. One more simple touch that I added was a sprinkling of golden castor sugar on top at the end – this adds a lovely sweet crunch, which contrasts well with the soft sticky cake.

It is a really simple cake to make. I used my Magi-cake strips to prevent the outside of the cake from over-cooking; they also help to ensure that the cake rises evenly: I would highly recommend them!  The only tricky part is the length of time to cook - this varies enormously depending on your oven. Keep an eye on the cake after about 25-30 minutes as the top may begin to get too brown - cover with foil if it does look like it needs it. Test with a skewer to check whether it is cooked. 

The end result is delicious and lasts well for about 3-4 days. It is great on its own with a cup of tea and also works well as dessert – with cream or custard. Definitely one of my favourite cakes!

Raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake

Ingredients

1. 225g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
2. 225g golden caster sugar
3. 4 medium eggs
4. 2 limes, grated zest and juice
5. 250g self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt, plus extra flour
6. 25g ground almonds
7. 100g each blueberries and raspberries

For the syrup:

1. Juice of 2 limes
2. Grated zest of 1 lime
3. 80g golden caster sugar, plus a little extra for scattering

Method

1. Set oven to 180C.
2. Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in square cake tin (not loose-based) with baking parchment.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes in an electric mixer).
4. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour towards the end to prevent curdling. Beat in the lime zest, then fold in the flour and almonds.
5. Fold in enough lime juice - about 3 tablespoons - to give you a good dropping consistency (the mixture should drop easily from the spoon when tapped).
6. Place the blueberries and raspberries in a bowl and scatter with the extra flour. Gently shake the bowl to ensure that all the fruit are evenly coated in flour. 



Ready to go in the oven!

7. Fold in three quarters of the blueberries and raspberries and turn into the prepared tin.
8. Smooth the surface, then scatter the remaining fruit on top - it will sink as the cake rises.
9. Bake for between 35 and 60 minutes (cover with foil if beginning to brown too much), or until firm to a gentle prod in the centre. A skewer pushed into the centre should be clean when removed.
10. While the cake is baking, make the syrup: put the lime juice, zest and sugar in a small saucepan. Put over a gentle heat and stir, without allowing to bubble. The sugar should dissolve a little.
11. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick all over with a skewer then spoon the syrup over it.
12. Once cool, carefully remove the cake from the tin and discard the lining paper.
13. Scatter with golden castor sugar and cut into 12 pieces to serve.