Blackberry Apple Cake Food

BLACKBERRY & APPLE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Butter a 22cm round loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking parchment. Beat the butter and caster sugar together in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy. Gradually pour in and beat the eggs, a little at a time, until you have used two-thirds, adding flour if it curdles. Fold in the remaining egg, the ground almonds and finally the flour, and combine everything gently.
• Add two-thirds of the apples to the cake mixture and all the blackberries. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it out evenly. Scatter the remaining apples over the surface of the cake. For the topping, sprinkle over the cinnamon, demerara sugar and butter. Bake for 50-55 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and scatter on the toasted hazelnuts. When the cake is cool, dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve in slices.

APPLE-BLACKBERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and dust with granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, the milk, and eggs in another bowl. Whisk into flour mixture.
• Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Arrange apple wedges over batter, and sprinkle with blackberries. Gently press fruit into batter. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar and the cinnamon, and sprinkle over fruit. Dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Bake until top is dark gold, apples are tender, and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Let cool. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

APPLE AND BLACKBERRY KUCHEN

Steps:

• For the cake:
• Pour 2 1/4 cups of the flour in a bowl with the salt, sugar and yeast. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add them, with the vanilla extract, lemon zest and cinnamon, to the lukewarm milk. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a medium-soft dough, being prepared to add more flour as necessary. I generally use about 2 1/3 cups in all, but advise you to start off with the smaller amount: just add more as needed. Work in the soft butter and knead by hand for about 10 minutes or half that time by machine. When the dough is ready it will appear smooth and springy: it suddenly seems to plump up into glossy life.
• Cover with a kitchen towel and leave until doubled in size (1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes). Or leave to rise slowly in a cold place overnight. Then punch down and press to line a jellyroll pan measuring 13 by 9-inches. You may think it's never going to stretch to fit, but it will, although you may need to let it rest for 10 minutes or so mid-stretch, especially if the dough has had a cold rise. When it's pressed out on the pan, leave it to rest for 15 to 20 minutes and then brush with the egg and cream mixture.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Peel and chop the apple and toss it in a bowl with the blackberries and the zest from the other half lemon. Set the bowl aside for the few minutes it takes to make the crumble topping. Put the flour, ground almonds and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl, stir to combine, then add the cold, diced butter. Using the tips of your fingers - index and middle stroking the fleshly pads of your clumpy (this is very buttery mixture) oatmeal. Fork in the sugars and sliced almonds.
• Tumble the fruit over the egg-washed dough and then sprinkle the crumble on top of that. Put in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 degrees F and cook for a further 20 minutes or so, until the dough is swelling and golden at its billowing edges and the crumble is set; don't expect it to be crunchy.
• Remove from the oven and, if you can, wait 5 minutes or so before cutting it into greed-satisfying slabs.

APPLE & BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE CAKE

Steps:

• Step 1: Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line a 23cm spring-clip cake tin. With your fingertips, rub together 50G BUTTER with the 50G FLOUR until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the LIGHT BROWN SUGAR and set aside in the fridge.
• Step 2: Cream together 225G BUTTER, softened, with the CASTOR SUGAR in a mixer (or with a hand-held mixer) until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the EGGS, then fold in the SELF-RAISING FLOUR, ALMONDS and BAKING POWDER. Transfer to the prepared tin.
• Step 3: Arrange the APPLE SLICES on top, then scatter the BLACKBERRIES over; top with crumble mixture. Bake for 50 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack for 5 mins, then turn out and serve warm with custard.
• NOTE: Defrost and drain frozen berries well before adding to the cake.

BLACKBERRY & APPLE LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C. Butter and line the bottom of a 1.7 litre loaf tin (see tip below). In a large bowl, rub the flour, butter and muscovado sugar together with your fingers to make fine crumbs. Measure out 5 level tbsp of this mixture into a small bowl for the topping, and mix in to it the cinnamon and demerara sugar. Set aside.
• Coarsely grate the apple down to the core and mix in with the eggs and the zest. Stir the baking powder into the rubbed-in mixture in the large bowl, then quickly and lightly stir in the egg mixture until it drops lightly from the spoon. Don't overmix.
• Gently fold in three quarters of the berries with a metal spoon, trying not to break them up. Spoon into the tin and level. Scatter the rest of the berries on top. Sprinkle over the topping and bake for 1¼ -1 hour 20 minutes. Check after 50 minutes and cover loosely with foil if it is browning too much. When done the cake will feel firm, but test with a skewer.
• Leave in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out, then cool on a wire rack. Peel off the paper before cutting. Will keep wrapped in foil or in a tin for up to 2 days.