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)