I get such nice emails from you. I am always so happy when someone drops me a line to ask a question or share their enthusiasm for one of the recipes I recommended. I recently got an e-mail from the woman who runs The Countess of Nassau County [1], a blog based in Long Island. “The Countess” had written a very kind review [2] of Lottie + Doof and wanted to share it with me. In it, she calls me out on my love of baked fruit, “the man loves him some baked fruit; in a pie, in a muffin, in a crumble, in a cake, in your Uncle Al’s shoe, any form will do.” I laughed out loud when I read this, mostly because it is true.
I sometimes feel self-conscious of the fact that so many recipes on this site include baked fruit in one form or another, but it really is what I eat. I love that these fruit recipes allow me to cook seasonal desserts and reflect what is at my market. So, rather than try to diversify my dessert repertoire, I am coming to you today with another fruit dessert—another AMAZING fruit dessert. This one combines an incredibly moist cake with slices of apple and blackberries. It is unusually easy to make and so pretty that I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. I was home alone when it came out of the oven and was so frustrated that there was nobody home to share in my excitement. Luckily, I have all of you and so I took out my camera and snapped some pictures.
Make this.
Apple-Blackberry Cake (Martha Stewart Living, September 2009)
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan, plus 1 ounce cut into pieces
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 3 gala apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8 wedges
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375° F. 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 of 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.