COOKBOOKS GALORE

There's a good crop of blackberries around this year, so I've managed to pick a few kilos. This is a bit of a red herring as I didn't actually use any of them in my cake!  I wanted to make a cake using some kind of blackberries, and found this one ages ago on an American baking blog which seems to have disappeared. Luckily I'd printed off the recipe - so thank you anyway to 'CakeyJo'. You don't use the blackberries whole, you make them into jam. In the original recipe you had to make this first, but I had a couple of jars of homemade blackberry jam I bought in a local fete, so I used those . I t's a cake with a difference in that it has a cakey -pastry base, a layer of jam, and finally another cakey-pastry layer. You need a 23cm springform cake tin lined with baking parchment Preheat oven 180C/gas4 In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together 180g butter and 225g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Using 2 large eggs, keep one white to egg wash at ...

I try and buy things in season, but the punnets of shiny blackberries caught my eye this week, so I bought some. I know they have air miles, but nobody's perfect! I love tray bakes,and I got the idea for this one from this Good Food site recipe. It seems to be fashionable at the moment to add crumble tops to cakes and muffins, and I think it gives a great contrast of textures to a cake.I like my crumble a bit clumpy, not too much like breadcrumbs. 115g butter, softened 175g caster sugar 1 egg 280g sr flour 125ml milk 200g blackberries Crumble topping: 115g caster sugar 85g pl flour finely grated rind of 1 lemon 50g butter Preheat oven 180C/gas4.  Butter an oblong cake tin. Beat sugar and butter together till pale and fluffy.Beat in the egg, then fold in flour and milk and mix well. Spoon into tin and sprinkle the blackberries over the top. The crumble - mix sugar,flour and lemon rind together then rub in butter till you have large crumbs,then sprinkle...