Normally I fight the brambles all year (they come through the hedge from both neighbours) and have got rid of the climbers that used to cover the fences on both sides of the garden since this just gave the brambles a place to hide. But I have a patch which were just too much of a pain to get to that I have left and now they are covered with ripening berries which should keep us going without having to leave our property (shielding thanks to COVID) until the season runs down in October. Of course I'll have to fight my eldest son off as as soon as he knows they are there he will strip the entire bush just for a snack. I do not know what it is but I have a plant which I bought from Poundland a couple of years back which is a blackberry cultivar with no thorns- this grows stems and leaves like a weed but I have never had a single berry. The plants I try actively to destroy are the ones which give me a steady but small supply to supplement my kitchen.
The next thing is to decide what to make with them. Not being a fan of any kind of jam (don't know why, I love fruit but don't like the taste of jam) I will not be preserving the bounty this way but prefer to freeze the berries instead.
Not enough to do this yet though so I think the first harvest (which is after all a little small) will go into my favourite blackberry pud and that is a crumble cake.
This is sponge cake on the bottom (plain or flavoured), topped with fruit in the middle and then finished off with a crumble topping. Warm with vanilla icecream (or even custard) the use of the sponge means that even for eight servings you need only the equivalent of one supermarket punnet of fruit. Other berries and fruit can be substituted for some or even all of the blackberries.
Blackberry Crumble Cake (serves up to 8)
For the cake:
110g butter or cooking margarine
200g caster sugar
4 large eggs
2 tbsp yogurt
200g self-raising flour
Topping
150-200g fresh blackberries (you need enough to make a single layer over the sponge mix)
Crumble topping:
100g butter or cooking margarine(the block kind), cut into cubes
140g plain flour
50 g sugar
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180 C.
Prepare a traybake rectangular in by greasing and lining with parchment paper.
Make the sponge mixture by creaming together the butter and the sugar until creamy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating between each one. (If the mixture splits add a tsp of the flour and beat again). Stir in the yogurt. Fold in the sifted flour. Tip this mixture into the tin and smooth gently over the surface to give a layer at the bottom.
Scatter over the berries to form a single layer.
Tip all the ingredients for the crumble into the same bowl and use your fingertips to rub in the margarine. (I find block margarine works better than the soft spread, don't know why...) You want something that resembles breadcrumbs; it should not look like a dough, if it does add more flour.
Scatter the crumble over the fruit as the top layer.
Bake in the oven until skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean. About 40 minutes depending on your tin.
Variations:
Add cinnamon and/or nutmeg to the sponge (1/2 tsp each)
Add 50g ground almonds in place of 50 g of the flour and add a 1/2 tsp of almond essence to the cake mix
Add cinnamon and flaked almonds to the crumble
Add replace some of the flour with oats in the crumble (take out a couple of tbsp and substitute with 2 tbsp oats)
Use brown sugar or muscovado sugar for a deeper flavour.
Change up the fruit by using other berries like raspberries or chopped strawberries as well as blackberries. Frozen summer fruits from the freezer section work for this recipe all year round. No need to defrost.
Peeled and chopped apples or pears also work well with the blackberries.
If you don't have fresh or frozen fruit then use jam instead - small "dollops" over the surface of the sponge in a layer before putting the crumble topping on.
Serve warm with icecream or greek yogurt/ creme fraiche.
Serve cold with a cup of tea. - this is one you need a drink with.
We have a bramble in the garden that I have forbidden my husband to cut down and it is absolutely laden with fruit. Much will end up in the freezer for the winter and some will end up in jam but I will make sure that there is also some to try this cake which sounds lovely. Thank you : )
ReplyDelete