Blackberry season has started to wane slightly here after a few days of heavy rain but there are still quite a few to be found and our freezer is still full so I have decided to make another blackberry inspired cake for September – this time with almond and lemon. It has a simple icing topping which went a bit wrong on mine because I made it too thin so it sank in to the cake – it was still delicious though!

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 75g ground almonds
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon1
• 150g blackberries, fresh or frozen
• 50g flaked almonds
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar, optional

Method

1. Prepare the tins
   Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan. Grease and line both tins with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar
   Beat together for about 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs
   Beat in the eggs one at a time. If the mixture begins to look curdled, add a spoonful of the ground almonds.
4. Add the dry ingredients
   Gently fold in the ground almonds, flour and baking powder.
5. Flavour the cake
   Fold in the almond extract, vanilla and lemon zest.
6. Add some of the blackberries
   If using frozen blackberries, don’t defrost them. Gently fold about 100g into the batter.
7. Divide between the tins
   Pour the batter into the tin and spread evenly. Scatter the remaining blackberries over the top, gently pushing them into the batter.
8. Add the almonds
   Scatter over the flaked almonds and the demerara sugar, if using.
9. Bake
   • approximately 35–45 minutes
10. Cool
    Leave in the tin for 15–20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting (and icing!).

Topping

Once cool, dust lightly with icing sugar.

For an extra lemony finish, mix 50g icing sugar with 1–2 tbsp lemon juice and drizzle over the cake.