I adore autumn, I love the foods, the smells, the weather…everything! For me the appearance of blackberries, plums, hips and haws all signify the beginning of a season of abundance, a season which I feel completely at one with. This morning I took a basket and followed the little lane outside the farmhouse until I came across the most enormous crop of blackberries, an absolute abundance of them, my son and I picked (probably a ratio of 5:1 basket vs mouth) a couple of kilos.
Digging through the post-holiday larder I found a packet of whole almonds, the remains of a bottle of rum and a small quality of rich dark muscovado sugar – and this cake was born. It’s really moist, almost pudding-like and would work exceptionally well with a blob of clotted cream or a drizzle of fresh custard as an autumnal pudding.
I’m also really looking forward to the later blackberries, the smaller pectin rich, black gold nuggets which can be readily turned into jams and jellies so a post or two certainly, to follow.
Ingredients
125g self-raising flour
75g almonds, roughly ground
65g dark muscovado sugar
65g golden caster sugar
125g unsalted butter
3 small eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g blackberries
1 tbsp spiced rum
Method
Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees c. (fan oven)
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, one at a time
Add the flour and baking powder (sifted), then the almonds
Add the rum, then incorporate the blackberries, very gently, so they remain intact
Butter, and line a 20 cm x 10cm round cake tin
Pour the batter into the tin and place in the oven
Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown ( check that the cake is fully cooked using a skewer or knife point – it should come out clean)
