Blackberry Crumble Coffee Cake

I don't know if 'coffee cake' - as in a shallow sided round cake one eats with coffee - is an American concept because, to my knowledge, in the UK coffee cakes actually do contain and taste like coffee, but wherever it comes from it is a concept I LIKE so I have made my first 'coffee cake'!

Except I shan't be drinking it with coffee because I have eliminated ALL caffeine from my diet since my body isn't fond of letting me lose consciousnesses and SLEEP eeeeeeeeeeeeesh so maybe I should rename this post Blackberry Crumble Orange Juice Cake. Naap

Look I made a groovy little photo speedy version of the recipe for y'aaalll!

I adapted this recipe from Annie Bell's Baking Bible. She used cherries and included lemon zest in her cake batter. Blackberries, however, are much tarter (is that a word?!) than cherries so I omitted the lemon for a perfect sweet/tart contrast between my layers.

Now = perfect time to make this cake as blackberries are IN SEASON!

This cake is best eaten the day it is made in order to get a good crunch from the crumble (who likes a soggy crumble not me no sir).

Imagine the crunch of the sweet crumble with oats and cinnamon followed by the contrasting tartness of the juicy blackberries then imagine, are you imagining? yes? good.. sinking your teeth into a pillow of soft sweet cake mmmmmmm

Stop it. It's not possible to grab a slice through your computer screen silly.
You'll just have to bake one yourself ;)

OH YEAH AND I MET JOHN WHAITE AT THE LIVERPOOL FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH this should have been at the beginning of my post!

(terrible photo of me like)

Blackberry Crumble Coffee Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

100 g unsalted butter, softened
100 g unrefined granulated sugar
1 medium free-range egg
75 ml semi-skimmed milk
125 g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
250 g blackberries (preferably fresh)

For the crumble topping

60 g all-purpose flour
30 g wholewheat flour
30 g granulated sugar
20 g soft light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
90 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
30 g rolled oats

Directions

1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees C then grease and line a 20 cm cake tin
2. In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the egg.
3. Add:
    half the milk, baking powder and half the flour - mix
    the rest of the milk and flour - mix
4. Pour the cake batter into the pre-lined cake tin.
5. To make the crumble combine the flours, sugars and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until you have a bowl of large crumbs. Mix in the oats.
6. Arrange the blackberries in a layer on top of the cake mixture then pour the crumble mixture on top of the blackberries. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes until the crumble is golden and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Serve, share, eat and ENJOY :D