Blag-it Blackberry Cinnamon Cake

I was going through my fridge yesterday morning (as I often do), when I randomly recollected that my butter was due to go out of date this month.

Ah, I’m sure it was at the end of the month, I thought, as I dug it out.

Oh, it goes out of date today.

Ah, I’m sure there’s only a little bit left, I can just bake some cookies with it.

Oh, there’s half a tub left..!

Hmm.

So I had 250g to use up within an hour and a half. (Because I was due to go out and not get back till late, not cos it was nearly midnight!)

Now, considering the vast majority of my cake bakage has often been butter-free, it was proving a bit troublesome to quickly pull out a favourite from the archive.

But after a quick search for '250g butter' in my blog, I came across my 2009 post on 'Fruit cakes for hard nuts' with Peach and Raspberry Squares which uses exactly 250g butter.

Bingo!

But I didn't have any peaches. Or raspberries for that matter. I usually have a wealth of frozen berries, but at this point in time I only had a sad little bag of blackberries. Well, those would just have to do.

As I put the mixture together, I realised just how few berries there were. The preheated oven was beeping away, ready to receive a cake to bake, so in a panic, I opened my spice cupboard, took a quick scan and tossed in some cinnamon.

Blackberries and cinnamon work together, don't they?

Well, it was too late now. I stuck the cake in the oven, and quickly scrambled to get myself ready to go out. I was running late by that point and so when the cake was done, I whipped it out and dumped it on the counter to cool.

I rushed out and for the rest of the day had that little niggling voice stewing in my head thinking, did that cake work, or did it not?

Ten hours later, I was home. I was shattered, but I had to sample that cake before bed.

One little slither, one tentative bite...

Phew...it WORKED!! The cinnamon saved it I think.

Now, I have adjusted the recipe below because I didn't have many berries in my one - so this one should be even more flavoursome!

Convinced yet?

Blag-it Blackberry Cinnamon Cake

Print-friendly recipe

For a 12 x 8" tray (28-32 squares):

250g unsalted butter (softened)
225g sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
200g frozen blackberries, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Mix the softened butter with the sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
3. In another bowl, sift in the flour, then fold in the blackberries and cinnamon.
4. Pour the mixture into a lined/greased 12 x 8" tin.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch.
6. Wait to cool before cutting into delicious little squares.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here.