My last cake (well, not really)

I have decide to stop baking for a while. It is not that I don't like doing it, rather that someone have to eat these cakes later... We are both on a diet at the moment and any cake hanging around our kitchen is a potential threat to our wellbeing.
My last creation was a spectacular blackberry and apple cake with delicious cinnamon crumble on top. All great things that late summer has to offer plus aromatic hint of spices. Beautifully moist with juicy blackberries. So here we go:

250g self-raising flour
175g butter
175g light muscovado sugar
½ or more tsp cinnamon
2 rounded tbsp dark muscovado sugar
1 small eating apple, not cored or peeled
2 large eggs, beaten
1 small lemon, finely grated zest
1 tsp baking powder
225g blackberries



Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and line the bottom of a 1.7 litre removable bottom tin .

In a large bowl, rub the flour, butter and muscovado sugar together with your fingers to make fine crumbs. Measure out 5 level tbsp of this mixture into a small bowl for the topping, and mix in to it the cinnamon and demerara sugar. Set aside.


Coarsely grate the apple down to the core and mix in with the eggs and the zest. Stir the baking powder into the rubbed-in mixture in the large bowl, then quickly and lightly stir in the egg mixture until it drops lightly from the spoon. Don't overmix.



Gently fold in three quarters of the berries with a metal spoon, trying not to break them up. Spoon into the tin and level.
Sprinkle over the topping and bake for 1¼ -1 hour 20 minutes. Check after 50 minutes and cover loosely with foil if it is browning too much. When done the cake will feel firm, but test with a skewer.




I am planning to bake something before our trip home but for now only healthy food!