Recipe Book: Apple and Blackberry Crumble Cake

Bushes and bushes full of ripe and juicy blackberries line the fields where my mum and I walk the doggies.  It wasn't long until we came armed with some tubs, treading in among the sharp brambles trying to find some goodies, and having a bit of an 'incident' with a wasp.  Nasty things.  We soon headed home debating how to put our bounty to good use.  This cake was decided on almost immediately!

The recipe I was following, however, was really disappointing.  Confusingly laid out they had jumbled together various stages in one 'step' and hadn't bothered with separating measurements for the various stages.  After various mumbles and grumbles I decided to just go-for-it and improvise! And was rather happy with the results.  I've yet to find a better written recipe for this beauty so decided to share my own.  

This cake is composed of various stages, which can be done whenever, don't be put off by the various stages as they're relatively simple - so long as you remember to add them all together at the end! ;)

Prep:

 Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 4.  

Butter and line a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment

Fruit:

Peel, core, and slice each of the apples into 8 wedges

Heat 25g of butter in a large frying pan

Add 1 tbsp golden caster sugar and the apple wedges

Cook slowly until the apples are tender and golden, leave to cool.

Crumble Topping:

Melt 50g unsalted butter

Mix in 50g soft brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 75g plain flour, 50g hazelnuts

Keep mixing until it until it resembles bread crumbs, allow to cool

Cake Mixture:

Beat together 175g butter and 150g golden caster sugar until light and fluffy

Gradually mix in the three beaten eggs

Fold in 200g plain flour and 2tsp baking powder

Add the 150g creme fraiche, mix until smooth.

Assembling:

Spoon roughly 2/3 of the cake mixture into the tin, level, and sprinkle a layer of the crumble mixture

Top with the remaining mixture, level again

Scatter another level of the crumble mixture

Arrange the apples and blackberries on top

Finish with another layer of the crumble mixture

Bake for about one and a half hours

loosely covering the cake if you find it is browning too quickly

Serving:

I added a layer of butter cream and blackberry jam, served with a dollop of creme fraiche.

My mum would have preferred I left out the jam and cream and just served with some warm custard.

Possibilities are endless!

Please share any blackberry themed recipes you enjoy - I still have lots, and they're feeling rather neglected out in the freezer!

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