Michaelmas

The feast of St Michael and All Angels is known as Michaelmas and falls on 29th September.  Traditionally, Michaelmas was celebrated with the Michaelmas goose, but it was also considered the last day when blackberries should be picked.

Each year, I think about the tradition of serving blackberries on this day, but I struggle to find any worth buying, as the commercial ones lack flavour and are often not nice to eat.  This year, I had an idea and searched the Crofter's website, where I discovered a recipe using their Blackberry spread.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, but followed most of it, omitting the nuts and the ground cloves, adding sultanas in place of raisins, using milk instead of buttermilk (and less of it) and adding extra baking powder, as I mixed this cake in the food processor.  The result is a beautifully moist and delicious Blackberry Cake and you can find the basic recipe here.

The icing of the cake was my decision and I opted for vanilla buttercream.  I've received compliments on my baking in the past, but none like these - it was described as my best cake ever!  I can only add that this cake is the perfect flavour for autumn with the combination of seasonal fruit, spices and vanilla.  It tastes great with a cup of tea!