Preparing a blackberry cake is nice, but using wild black blackberries is something special. I could have gone to the market to buy some fresh berries but using the wild ones is much more exciting and adventurous not to mention the difference in taste. In my family we don’t have any recipe with blackberries so I decide to take my mother’s sponge cake recipe and top it with my own fruity cream so I can be faithful to the original concept of this blog. I must say this combination doesn’t disappoint me. Quite the opposite.
Picking wild blackberries is very similar to hunting. The first step is already exciting that is practically finding the bushes. Last week we made a discovery tour in the surrounding forests, memorized locations and were sure that one week later we will definitely find a satisfying amount of ripe fruits. When picking blackberries you have to be prepared that you have to face numerous dangers. Its prickles pick us, nettles sting my arms and we get bitten by mosquitos. However, we don’t care since we are both passionate about food: I am passionate about creating while Áron, my boyfriend is highly interested in consuming. We are the perfect team.
Nonetheless we can pick half of a kilo blackberries, we are happy, the sun comes through the trees in a perfect angle to have a nice shoot and on the way home we pass by hay bales and grey cattles. We are so fascinated that we stop and look them admired while they look back at us with a less fascinated face. The scent of the blackberries slowly reaches our nose from the warm car and we are smiling at each other because this is exactly the feeling why we moved here to the countryside.
Wild blackberry cake
(for a 25 cm diameter cake)
Ingredients
3 eggs
4 tbsp. oil
6 tbsp. powder sugar
3 tbsp. water
6 tbsp. flour
1 package of baking powder
300 g wild blackberries
100 g sugar
300 g cream
4 gelatin sheets
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut a circle of a parchment paper and put it on the bottom of the mould, brush the sides with butter. Beat the egg yolks with the powder sugar, add the half of the water and oil. Mix flour with the baking powder. Add the other half of the water to the egg whites and beat it until it forms peaks. Alternately add flour and egg whites to the egg yolks, stirring very carefully so you don’t break the foam. Pour the dough into the mould and bake it until golden brown (approximately 20 minutes) reduce heat to 180 degrees after 10 minutes. Blend the berries, sieve the puree and add sugar. Put the gelatin sheets into cold water. Heat up half of the berry puree, press out any excess moisture from the gelatin leaves and dissolve them in the warm mixture than add the remaining puree. Beat the cream, add to the fruit mixture and by using a cake ring spread the cream on top of the sponge. Put it into the fridge at least for 3-4 hours.
