I had a couple of punnets of blackberries that I impulse bought when out getting supplies for breakfast on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend. I started off with grand plans to make something like a blackberry meringue pie, but as the day drifted on, I decided to keep it simple. The sun was burning through the window and I wanted to make something equally fresh and summery, with simple flavours. I decided to combine the blackberries with a couple of things I had in the fridge; lemons & thyme sprigs. To keep the simple nature of this going, I pulled out a loaf tin and decided to make a drizzle cake.

This accidentally also means I can take part in week one of this year’s #BakeOffBlogAlong. The first episode of the new series was cake week, and the first round was fruity-cakes. The new season is the first since it moved to Channel 4 and outside the major changes; adverts (yuk) and 3 of the core presenters (not sure Noel Fielding is the right fit) it remained good telly. I’ll not get in to a full critique of bake off here though. From week one, as I’d already accidentally done a fruit based cake, and have no desire to do any form of illusion cake (that stuff ain’t for me), I decided to go with this blackberry, lemon & thyme drizzle cake. We’ve managed to get ourselves tickets to Extra Slice next weekend though, how exciting is that? You may see me pop up in the audience!

Chop the blackberries up well and coat them in flour before you cover the top of the cake, just before you put it in the oven. You want them well spread through the batter. It will also likely take a long time to bake, a good hour, potentially more.

Blackberry, Lemon & Thyme Cake W/ Gin Drizzle

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

Author: The Bearded Baker

Serves: 1 cake

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• finely grated zest 1 lemon
• 225g self-raising flour
• 50g blackberries, chopped and tossed in flour
• 3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
• **For the Drizzle**
• juice 1 lemon
• 85g caster sugar
• 1 tsp gin (optional)
• 1 sprig thyme

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan assisted) and grease & line a loaf tin.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. While it's beating, combine the flour and lemon zest.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the flour mixture, along with the thyme and beat until well combined.
6. Stir through the blackberries, reserving several for the top.
7. Pour into the prepared loaf tin, making sure it's spread evenly, use the reserved blackberries to cover the top.
8. Place in the middle of the pre-heated oven and bake for 45-70 minutes. A knife inserted into the center should come out clean of cake mix (but probably not blackberry).
9. Once baked, remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack.
10. Whisk together all the ingredients for the drizzle. Cover the loaf with holes, using a fork or skewer. Pour the drizzle evenly over the whole cake.
11. Leave to cool in the tin, once cooled remove and serve.

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