Apple and blackberry cake

It’s blackberry season! We are very lucky to have a couple of bushes on the farm. The kids love picking them and then either making them into a smoothie, or a cake – or just scoffing them freshly picked!

They can be quite tricky to get to, and it’s also really hard dodging nettles and spiky brambles; but that just makes them even more precious somehow.

Artie tends to do the dangerous and dirty job of picking, whilst Bea stands by with a vessel in hand…

As soon as the kids were whisked away with Nana for a day, I set to work thinking of a cake recipe to make the most of them. I also had some Braeburn apples that needed eating, and with that classic combination you just can’t go wrong really, can you?

I settled on an adaptation of Amber Rose’s recipe for Pear and cinnamon cake. Instead of grating the fruit, I sliced my apples and made them look pretty on the top.

This cake uses spelt flour as it’s much healthier and easier to digest than plain; but use plain if you don’t have spelt (or wholemeal). It also uses a lot of maple syrup, which is expensive – but worth it as a treat, I think. Honey would be just as good if you have that.

It’s good warm with Greek yoghurt, or cold for a picnic or afternoon pick me up.

Serves: 8 large portions
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes

Ingredients: 
200g butter, softened
200g spelt flour
3 free-range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
200g maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Braeburn apple, cored and sliced into 8 segments
100g-150g blackberries

Instructions: 

1. Grease and flour a 23cm springform or loose bottom cake tin. Preheat oven to 180.
2. Beat the butter for a few minutes, until pale. Add some flour and an egg, one at a time. Mix the rest of the flour in, along with baking powder and cinnamon.
3. Add maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Fold in blackberries.
4. Pour the mixture into your tin. Decorate with the apple slices and push them in slightly.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes.