One to make anyone crumble...

A lot of people hate winter and everything that comes with it....Me on the other hand, never one to conform, LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Everything from the warm cosy clothes to Christmas to open fires, and most importantly the warming delicious comfort food that cheers us all up on a cold and dreary day.

I'm a huge fan of using simple ingredients to create delicious dishes that are quite simply YUM. Sometimes the oldies really are the goodies... 

I woke up this morning with rain beating on the windows at 7am (whoever said Velux skylight windows were a good idea was wrong... they're noisy and annoying when I should be dreaming of baking!). Such a dull day deserves a delicious teatime treat using seasonal ingredients.... what could be better than using apples from our orchard, and hand picked blackberries..I honestly can't think of anything right now... 

Apple and blackberry crumble cake it is! This is a really simple, warming cake that will cheer anyone up on a cold winter's day... 

    

To begin...                                   

1. Preheat the oven to 180d celsius.

2. Grease a loose base 8 inch flan dish. 

For the crumble:  

2 oz plain flour  

2oz butter

1.5oz caster sugar

1. Rub butter into flour until you have no lumps of butter left. 

2. Stir in caster sugar.

For the cake: 

5oz self-raising flour
2oz ground almonds

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

2oz caster sugar 

1 egg

50ml milk

100g butter, melted

1. Sieve dry ingredients together, and stir gently until just combined. 

2. Melt butter. Whisk in one beaten egg and the milk. 

3. Add liquid ingredients to the flour mix, and beat until well mixed. 

For the filling:   

2 large cooking apples                    

100g blackberries                                  

2 tbsp caster sugar                

1 tsp cinnamon    

1. Peel, core and slice apples. 

2. Toss slices in caster sugar and cinnamon. 

3. Wash blackberries, and pat dry with kitchen paper. 

Pecan topping:

50g chopped pecans

1tbsp runny honey

1. Chop pecans roughly. 

2. Toss in honey until coated. This will give them an amazing sweet, toasted flavour once the cake is baked. 

To assemble:

1. Spoon cake mixture into prepared tin. 

2. Arrange fruit on top of the cake mixture, pressing it down gently with a spoon. 

3. Next top with the crumble mixture. 

4. Spoon the honeyed pecans over the top. 

5. Place cake in the preheated oven, and bake for 35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Just before baking...

I can't decide if this cake is nicer warm, or cold... maybe try a slice of both and let me know what you think! 

Unfortunately someone cut the cake before I managed to get a photo.. I guess that's a sort of compliment to the chef!

Ultimate comfort cake...

        

My food photography skills need a crash course I think, but we'll get there eventually!

Speaking of skills, a big congratulations to the very talented Laoise on winning the Great Irish Bake Off challenge with her stunning Heaven & Hell cake.

Happy eating :)