Blackberry crumble cake & pistachio custard
This is a brilliant cake recipe to add to your repertoire, it can be put together in minutes and adjusted to suit the season. It's one of those all rounders, it pleases the fruit lovers in your life, the ones who like nuts and crumble, the friends who just want a slice of cake AND makes an excellent after dinner pudding if you want to serve it with warm custard.
Make this cake your own by adjusting the fruit, raspberries, stoned cherries, figs, plums all work really well here. I'd recommend lightly chopping up bigger fruits and leaving smaller ones whole. If you would like to use apple, pears or a firmer fruit, consider peeling them first and chopping them down to bitesized pieces.
Makes 1 square cake
Enough for 8
24x24cm/9.5x9.5in tin
Ingredients:
Cake
230g unsalted butter
20ml neutral oil
220g golden caster sugar
Pinch maldon salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
4 eggs
200g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
30g ground almonds
Fruit
300g blackberries/ another fruit of your choice (see above)
Crumble topping
30g chopped pistachios
40g demerrera sugar
30g plain flour
20ml double cream
Custard
250 ml whole milk 250 ml double cream 100 g caster sugar
Pinch of maldon 5 egg yolks
20g pistachio paste
Cake method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C and grease the tin inch butter and line with baking parchment.
2. Put the butter, oil and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a mixing bowl. Cream together using the paddle attachment or a hand-held electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the salt, vanilla , then fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds.
4. Roughly chop the fruit, if the fruit is small there's no need
4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and top with the chopped fruit.
Crumble method:
5. Mix together the pistachios, flour, demerrera sugar. Use your fingertips to breadcrumb the cream in to create little clusters, do not over mix
6. Scatter all over the cake and fruit
7. Bake in the oven for about 50 mins - 1 hour, or until when a skewer is inserted and comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cool before removing from the tin. This cake will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Serve as it is or with pistachio custard/ cream/ ice cream.
Pistachio custard method:
1. Stir together the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan with the salt and half of the sugar and place over a medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, pistachio paste with the rest of the sugar to combine.
3. When the milk is steaming hot and just about to come to the boil, slowly pour roughly two thirds of it over the yolks, whisking vigorously as you pour, until smooth and combined.
4. Pour the yolk mix back into the pan over a low heat with the remaining milk and whisk well to incorporate.
5. Stir with a spatula constantly until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and serve
