I love all the fruits available during the summer — Like the blackberries in this cake.  Here’s a fun and simple recipe I found on Lululu at Home.

Paz

Straight out of the oven.

Blackberry Cake

Lululu at Home

(makes a 6" cake or 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups fresh blackberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 6" cake pan or a loaf pan.

Using a stand mixer, beat together butter and 1 cup sugar unitl light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add egg, milk and vanilla.  Beat until fully incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

With the mixer on low speed, mix in flour mixture.

Transfer batter to the greased pan.

Arrange berries on top.  Sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 325F.  Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 50 minutes.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

Cooling.  Couldn’t wait to taste it.

Yes, two slices.  Yum!

These berries taste delicious alone or in a cake. 

Yes, that’s supposed to be a heart-shaped cake.  However, no one could would wait for me to take a photo of my finished product and I was too tired to fight off the cake eaters.

When I first saw this cake on Lululu at Home, the stripes immediately captured my attention (It’s actually more mesmerizing on a round-shaped cake).  I was eager to find out how to get that pattern.  Turns out that it was very easy and fun to prepare.   Next time I make this cake, I’ll use the round cake pan.  Oh, I used my homemade vanilla extract.  I’m still so excited that I made my own vanilla extract.   It and the cake were made with love.  Did you know vanilla is an aphrodisiac?  

By the way, can any one tell me why the top of my cake cracked?

Happy Valentine’s day to all. 

Paz

Zebra Cake

Lululu’s Home Cooking

(makes 9" cake)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 large eggs, at room temp

1 cup white sugar

1 cup whole milk, at room temp

1 cup olive oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9" round cake pan. Line with a parchment circle and butter the parchment.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine eggs and sugar. On medium speed, beat until the mixture is light and creamy. Add milk, oil, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until the flour is just incorporated.

Divide batter into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.

Scoop 1/4 cup of plain batter into the middle of the cake pan. Then scoop 1/4 cup of cocoa batter and pour it in the center (right on top) of the plain batter. Continue to alternate between the plain and cocoa batters (always pouring it in the center right on top of the previous batter) until you use up the batters.

Bake at 350F until golden or until a cake tested comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Cool for 15 minutes in pan and then remove cake from pan to cool on a wire rack.