I always try to make sure I have extra foraged or pick-your-own fruit to put in the freezer so we can enjoy it throughout the winter in baking. Then I either forget to use it or “save” it for a special occasion. And then forget to use it. Last year I had to make jam with some leftover blackberries to make room for the few I managed to pick this year… Recently though, partly because I didn’t manage to pick many and partly because I have been making an effort, I ended up with one small bag of blackberries. Instead of putting them in a crumble I wanted to use them for something a bit different, and I wanted to make something that said Spring, rather than Autumn.

This cake combines blackberries, lemon and Greek yogurt and the lemon makes it lovely and fresh. I used part self raising flour, part almond flour so the cake also had a slight hint of almond, which I think made it delicious. I’ve been meaning to bake with gluten free flour alternatives for ages now – so long, in fact, that the xanthan gum recommended for gluten free baking I bought when I first intended to give it a go (and opened for this cake) is already almost out of date. Xanthan gum is used in baking to improve the crumb structure and reduce crumbling. I’m not sure that this cake needed it as the yogurt gives it quite a dense texture anyway.

I topped it with some cream cheese icing just because I had some with flecks of butter in that I hadn’t been able to use for a carrot cake I made for a friend. Either I didn’t get the butter properly worked into the icing sugar before adding the cream cheese or the butter was just too cold. Luckily the icing tastes just as good and I think it really complemented the cake. I don’t think the kids noticed…

Recipe

Ingredients

Cake

175g butter

175g caster sugar

3 eggs

Juice and zest of a lemon

225g SR flour (I used 125g SR flour, 100g almond flour, half teaspoon baking powder, half teaspon xanthum gum)

125g Greek yogurt

125g blackberries

Icing

300g icing sugar

50g butter

125g cream cheese

Method

Grease, and line the base of, an 8″ loose-based cake tin.

Set the oven to 180ºC.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat to mix well.

Mix in the lemon juice and zest and the yogurt. Beat well.

Sieve in the flour and fold in carefully.

Add the blackberries and mix gently to make sure they are evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for around 45 minutes to an hour, until the cake is well risen, browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for a while before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

If you wish to make the icing:

Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl of a stand or handheld mixer.

Add the butter and mix slowly until the mixture ressembles sand.

Add the cream cheese and beat on high for a few minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

Make sure the cake is completely cold before spreading the icing evenly over the top.

Categories: Baking, Cakes, Foraging, Fruit, Recipes

Tags: almond flour, autumn, baking, blackberries, cake, cream cheese, foraging, frosting, fruit picking, gluten free baking, greek yogurt, icing, lemon, Spring, xanthan gum