Found a huge heap of blackberries growing in the back garden, pondered what I could do with them. I was inspired by
Olivia's raspberry recipe but didn't have the correct cake tin. I googled a similar thing but to cook in a loaf tin. I found
this recipe. To stop rambling on, here's my recipe for blackberry, apple and almond loaf. I love taking parts from one recipe and making it work for other ingredients. If you are an amateur baker, this is for you. The first time I attempted it I took it out too early, pierced and the knife was gloopy. In a panic, I cry and put it back in the oven. I take a deep breath and leave it for another ten minutes, out it comes perfectly. Phew.
You will need... -two cooking apples (I had four and made crumble too)
-150 g butter
-150 g caster sugar
-150 g self raising flour
-50 ml milk
-150g blackberries (but any sort of berry will work)
-2 eggs
-vanilla essence (optional- I like the taste)
-60 g ground almonds (optional- I've found you can use much less flour by adding this. If remove add 50g more self raising) -blackberry jam (optional)
serves: 6 generous portions
time: 15 mins prep 50 mins cooking
How to... -PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 160 celcius
-Grease loaf tin with a bit of butter
-Melt 30g butter in a pan and add in peeled and sliced apples, leave to cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a few drops of vanilla essence, stir, sprinkle over 30g ground almond and check the texture. Cook on low heat until soft. Leave to cool.
-Cream (mash together) 150g butter and 150g sugar together in a bowl (if you don't have an electric mixer
this bbc instructional video is helpful) -Add milk, still beating
-Whisk two eggs and a bit of vanilla essence seperately and slowly beat in to mixture
-Fold in (
how to fold bbc video) 150g self raising flour and 30g ground almond
-Arrange accordingly in a loaf tin (alternatively make in a muffin/cake/within reason anything will work tin). I did three big dollops of mixture , then carefully add apple mixture and blueberries and a blob of jam and then cover with more mixture
-Cook for approx 50 mins. Check at 45 and
skewer test if you think it's ready.
-Leave to cool for 10 mins before transfering on to a cooling rack. I had leftover blackberries/apples so made a crumble using an oat based topping (75g porridge oats, 100g melted butter and 50g brown sugar.