Sunday 16 August 2009

Bramley and blackberry traybake


I am lucky enough to live right next to a very beautiful part of the Lee Valley park so when I had a hankering to go blackberry picking this weekend I didn’t have to go very far. In terms of food miles, the blackberries used in this recipe did less than one!

I should point out that I wasn’t alone in this venture and was more than ably assisted by the CCBF (Caked Crusader’s Boyfriend). All the outdoors photos used in this post were taken by him (when he should’ve been picking fruit – anything to get out of hard labour!!! But I’ll let him off as he peeled and sliced all the apples used in the cake....I’ll turn him into my commis chef yet!)

The bushes directly in the sun were abundant with big, juicy blackberries and we far exceeded the amount we needed to make two of these cakes. It was apparent that no one had been there before us – I remember when you had to time it right to ensure that the bushes had anything left to pick; now it seems like no one can be bothered, which is a shame.

Our haul of luscious berries:

Here are the two cakes ready for the oven:

For reasons I can’t quite explain, this cake tasted French to me. It’s not a spongy cake and it’s not as batter-y as, say, a Clafoutis but somewhere between the two. One thing I can say with clarity – it’s utterly delicious! There’s actually more fruit than cake and each bite is packed with flavour and texture. Very simple to make and extremely lovely to eat.

The colours of the blackberries and the apples start to merge giving a very pretty hue:


Grab a Tupperware, put on some thick trousers (those prickles snag) and get picking – with very little effort you could be enjoying this:


Ingredients:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
284ml whipping cream
225g golden caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
3 eggs
300g plain flour
4 bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunky slices
300g blackberries

To serve: ice cream or thick cream

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

- Grease a 30cm x 20cm deep roasting tin with butter.

- Tip the butter and cream into a saucepan and bring slowly up to the boil. Remove from the heat and set to one side.

- Whisk the sugar and eggs together until thick and fluffy. This takes a good few minutes and you’ll know when you’re there as the colour will turn pale.

- Whisk the cooled cream and butter into the egg mix.

- Sieve in the flour and fold until combined.

- Peel, core and cut the apples into wedges. Cut each quarter into three chunky slices.

- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and scatter over ¾ of the blackberries.

- Arrange the apple slices – you’ll need to place them compactly to get them all in.

- Scatter the remaining blackberries over the top.

- Sprinkle over two tablespoons of golden caster sugar.

- Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour until the batter is starting to pull away from the sides of the tin.

- Leave to cool then serve with either ice cream or cream.

- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.

- Eat.


21 comments:

Caroline said...

Oooh, yum! Blackberries and apples are a brilliant match. Wild blackberries are much better than commercial too - yours look fab!

Jules said...

You can't beat freshly picked blackberries. We have also noticed that the hedges are full of blackberries this year, but no-one seems to be picking them...apart from us!

lisaiscooking said...

Apples and blackberries together sounds so good right now! Your cake looks delicious.

Ann said...

Wow - the concept of a traybake is new to me, I've only seen them on your blog - but they look downright divine!

Unknown said...

Over here the blackberry season is finished, but it hardly matters - it's getting very difficult to find any wild blackberry bushes, and the birds get all the fruit anyway.

Back to important things - your cake looks delicious.

Cakelaw said...

What a beautiful cake. You are very lucky to live right near some wild-growing blackberries.

Rhyleysgranny said...

That looks scrumptious. A gorgeous autumn pudding. The brambles are just starting to ripen her. I must make this. Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog :)

Big boys Oven said...

so envy you as you are able to get hold on so so SO many blackberries, here so expensive! :(

DaisyCakes Bakery and Boutique said...

This looks thoroughly enjoyable. I love fresh picked blackberries! Your blog is so fun!

A_and_N said...

Oh we are looking for blackberry farms to pick!

Karine said...

Your traybake sounds so delicious! And you are lucky to be able to go blackberry picking..... I would fill my freezer with blackberries if I could!

Katie said...

It looks gorgeous. Blackberries and just starting to appear where I live. I'll to give this a go when they arrive.

♥Rosie♥ said...

Those freshly picked blackberries look plump and juicy. Your traybake is absolutely gorgeous!! I would love a slice served with lashings of custard - yum!

anna and the ring said...

Delicious. Now I really want to go blackberrying!

Gloria Baker said...

Wow, this look heavenly to me !I really love blackberrries! so yummy! gloria

Katiecakes said...

Oh I love Blackberries. That traybake looks delicious!

Katie xox

Emily said...

WOW! This cake looks amazing. I'm incredibly jealous of your blackberry picking! That sounds and looks like so much fun.

Pity said...

wow, it looks amazing! i love this kind of cake, you really know what you are doing! well done!

cheers,

pity

Maggie said...

Beautiful traybake. I love wild blackberries and only yesterday went to the park picking them!

glamah16 said...

You sound like your on your way to training the boyfriend! Im envious of all this good fruit in your posts. I want to go pick some.

Talita said...

I heart blackberry! I'm waiting for the riping of my blackberry tree! Then I'll can make so delightful recipes like yours.