Apple-Blackberry Cake

To quote Titanic: "Hello! Is anyone alive out there?" Well yes, yes I am and my, oh my, is it mighty fine to see you again.

I read once that the worst thing a food blogger can do is "apologize" for not posting frequently enough and that it’s annoying to readers. Internet, I’m going to go against you for one second here and say I’m sorry. I haven’t been completely away from my kitchen, but I’ve definitely been neglecting it. “A” and I still cook a few times a week, but his apartment is a little dark and I always forget my camera anyways. Then the food my girlfriends and I make at Tuesday Girls Night usually is consumed with such fervor that I wouldn’t have a shot at a photo anyways.

Heck, I ate kale chips and Bing cherries for dinner the other night. While it was delicious and fulfilled my cravings, it’s not really a meal I should brag about.

Excuses… excuses… but hey, I’m back! At work, we’ve been having a series of “Iron Chef” bake-offs. The first round was marshmallow. That Sunday I had a 10-hour adventure from Texas back to Seattle and was in no mood to get down in the kitchen. Pass on that round.

Second round? Cinnamon. I ended up making some cinnamon ginger snap cookies and toasted pecan and cinnamon ice cream sandwiches. While I failed to take a photograph, I was victorious and won a spot in the finals.

This past Monday was round 3 and the challenge was berries. I had been flirting with a few recipes but I ultimately decided on apple-blackberry cake. I didn’t want anything that was loaded with sugar or overly complicated. The dough is easy to put together; a simple whisking of the dry ingredients into the wet, fruit is pressed in and it’s good to go in the oven. Simple, delicious and impressive – my kind of recipe.

A few things to note though, I found myself having to put the cake in for a little longer than the recommended baking time but I wasn’t paying attention and ended up over baking it by a minute or two. If anything, next time I make this I would under-bake it slightly as let it firm up more in the pan.

Either way, this is a great dish to bring to a potluck either as a ‘healthy’ dessert or a side dish at a brunch.

Apple-Blackberry Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:

Granulated sugar, for coating pan

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons goat butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup goat milk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 McIntosh apples (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, and cut into 8 wedges
• 1 cup (1/2 pint) blackberries

 Simple Topping:

• 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons goat butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and dust with granulated sugar.  I used a 9.5″ springform pan and it worked well, but I wouldn’t recommend using one any larger, as the cake will be thin.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Whisk together melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, milk, and eggs in another bowl.  Whisk into flour mixture.  Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
4. 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.