Apple Blackberry Cake

My mum and I made this great little cake at the cottage over Labour Day weekend, and then I made it again last weekend for friends. It's from the September issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

The recipe's extremely easy, mostly because it skips the typical cake step of creaming butter and sugar. The butter's melted, which means you don't have to worry about having soft butter, which is never the case for me.

Both times I've made this cake with raspberries instead of blackberries, because that's what I happened to have. The problem with them is that they tend to burn a bit on top as the cake bakes, which doesn't make them look all that pretty, but doesn't affect the taste.

When I added the berries last time, three beetle-like bugs fell out of my punnet of raspberries and I had to fish them out of the cake. I bet Martha doesn't have to deal with disasters like that!

Peeling the apples for the cake. I used two very large Honeycrisp apples instead of Macs.

Ready to go in the oven. I had to use an 8 inch cake pan instead of a round 9-inch springform, because I don't own one. This is about the third recipe I've made this summer that calls for that size pan. Think it's time to buy one!

One thing to note is that with the amount of fruit called for, it's difficult to press the fruit down into the batter as the recipe calls for. There's not much room in a crowded pan!

Ready for a piece? The cake has a nice texture and the apples get soft, but still hold their shape. The berries kind of melt in alongside the apple chunks. Result? Yummy!

Apple Blackberry Cake

Granulated sugar for pan

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 oz. (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter melted, plus more for pan, plus 2 tbsp. cut into pieces

1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. packed light-brown sugar

1/2 c. whole milk

2 eggs

4 McIntosh apples (about 1 1/2 pounds) peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges

1 c. blackberries

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 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 c. brown sugar, milk and eggs in another bowl. Whisk into flour mixture.

2. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Arrange apple wedges over batter, and sprinkle with berries. Gently press fruit into batter. Combine remaining 2 tbsp. brown sugar and the cinnamon, sprinkle over fruit. Dot with remaining 2 tbsp. butter. Bake until top is dark gold, apples are tender and a cake tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Let cool. Serve with whip cream if desired.

Last blast of summer

Labour day weekend was my first, and likely last visit to the cottage this summer. A wet, cold July and August meant there wasn't much opportunity -- or motivation -- to head up to the lake. But in spite of the late date on the calendar, the visit was really great. Lots of sunshine and hours spent reading on the deck, or just dozing. The lake was the coldest I remember in a long time (warm spots were few and far between), but the swimming was fabulous.

Here's hoping next summer is better!