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Blackberry Tea Cake

June 14, 2011

Every week at our local farmers' market I buy several pints of assorted berries for the kids to munch on at breakfast or lunch. Chloe loves her berries, but when I offer her a mix, she always picks out the blackberries to eat first.

Over the past few weeks, the blackberries have gotten even bigger and sweeter than usual, so I've been buying extra. I love using them to make smoothies, popsicles, in cereal or just to eat on their own, but coming up with a recipe for a cake for them to star in was really exciting and new for me.

The best part about this cake is that it isn't too sweet, so you can happily enjoy it for breakfast, as an after school snack or even as a simple dessert (with tea of course, though it's not required!). I didn't actually get to test it out for all those different uses though since it didn't stick around along enough. In less then 24 hours, the cake I made completely disappeared. Granted, it's debut from my oven conveniently coincided with a gaggle of hungry kids that happened to be playing at our house, but it's popularity only confirmed to me how special and unique this treat really is.

Blackberry Tea Cake

Prep Time:5 minutes, (PT5M)
Cook Time: 40 minutes, (PT40M)
Total Time: 1 hours, 5 minutes, (PT1H5M)

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cups fresh blackberries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Butter and flour a 13″ x 9″ baking dish.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In a standing mixer or bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, milk, sour cream and zest.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until combined.
6. Place blackberries on the bottom of the dish and top with the batter.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool for 20 minutes on top of a cooking rack then flip dish over for the cake to come out.
9. Cut into squares and serve.

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Comments

cyikkis

March 1, 2013 at 5:28 pm

Reply

This sounds so good! My little one has a severe egg allergy. I usually use yogurt or applesauce as a sub for eggs. Think it would work here?
- catherine
  
  March 5, 2013 at 11:09 am
  
  Reply
  
  Interesting! I haven’t heard of those substitutes! I usually use 1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water!
  - cyikkis
    
    March 18, 2013 at 9:47 pm
    
    Reply
    
    I use flax seed too but it usually does not work well with baked goods.
erinmw

September 11, 2012 at 7:45 am

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My son and I went out blackberry picking yesterday with this cake in mind! I can’t wait for him to wake up from his nap so we can make it together, we made it the other week and it was totally delicious! This time we plan to treat my in laws with this super tasty treat, thank you Catherine you are a goddess!
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Amber Gray

October 9, 2011 at 1:58 pm

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In our Sunday School Class, we take turns bringing breakfast and it was our turn this week. I made this cake and it was a huge hit!! Thanks for another great recipe!! I love your website!!
Marian

September 7, 2011 at 2:21 pm

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This is sooooo good. This cake is not gonna last a day in this house!:)
jellyjello

August 3, 2011 at 2:48 pm

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omg just made this with fresh blueberrys..beautiful and soooo good!!
Jen

July 19, 2011 at 3:32 pm

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Do you think this recipe would work well as regular sized muffins? If so, how long approx baking time?
Sarah

July 13, 2011 at 4:00 pm

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How do you store the leftovers?
Lauren

July 10, 2011 at 4:57 pm

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This turned out beautifully with fresh picked raspberries! The only thing is the cake stuck to the pan even though I greased with butter though it cut out well in squares. Will so use again.
Sarah

July 3, 2011 at 8:02 pm

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Very tasty! I made this with blueberries and Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream.
Kristy B.

June 30, 2011 at 7:26 pm

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How essential is the lemon zest? I have all the ingredients except that and I’m trying to avoid a trip to the store.
- catherine
  
  July 6, 2011 at 1:57 pm
  
  Reply
  
  Very essential, give it such a bright flavor!
Tracy

June 23, 2011 at 8:54 pm

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Okay, I just made this today and my husband said, “Honey, this is one of the best things you’ve baked!” BIG HIT!!!
michelle

June 20, 2011 at 11:31 am

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I made some substitutions for allergies and used wholesome’s organic brown sugar for the sugar as well as soy milk and yogurt for the milk and sour cream and grapeseed oil for the butter (I just cream it with the sugar longer) I did use eggs so this is not vegan. I also filled two 9″ round cake pans so we could freeze one for a party later…..supremely yummy! and perfect texture!

photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49754167@N00/5853514932
Grace

June 17, 2011 at 12:12 pm

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Wow, I made these this morning and they looked exactly like Catherine’s picture and tasted delish! However instead of sour cream, I used greek plain yogurt. And instead of putting the blackberries on the bottom of the pan, I lightly coated them with flour and then gently folded them in with the batter. This way they turned up nice and “floaty” in the cake. This recipe was easy and fast, and I will definitely try it again with different fruit like peaches or blueberries. Thanks!
Pamela

June 16, 2011 at 10:30 pm

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For everybody looking to make these dairy-free, soy yogurt can be subbed for the regular yogurt and unsweetened hemp milk can go in for regular milk. Try organic earth balance sticks for the butter. Many times coconut oil works well for butter, too. I would also use whole wheat pastry flour for the white.
Jennifer

June 16, 2011 at 9:52 pm

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I made these last night to bring to a breakfast play group. Of course, I had to taste one (or two or ten) to make sure they were edible. OMG! These are deelish!! I’ve already shared the recipe with a good friend. Thanks for a great recipe and a wonderful site. Cheers!
Keerthi

June 16, 2011 at 3:31 pm

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Is there any substitute for egg?? I’m planning to make it for a friend but she doesn’t eat eggs.
Maria

June 16, 2011 at 12:42 pm

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In the oven now! Wow is that some delicious batter!! I did half blackberry / raspberry . I also ran out of van extract and only had 1 tsp so I substituted with a squirt if honey. I wasn’t sure what else to use. Any ideas on what to use in the kitchen when you run out of vanilla extract?
Carla

June 15, 2011 at 6:18 pm

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What about subbing in some whole wheat flour? Do you think it would taste just as good?
- Allison
  
  July 30, 2011 at 8:57 pm
  
  Reply
  
  I used only whole wheat and it turned out great!
Andrea

June 14, 2011 at 10:51 pm

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I just bought a package of frozen berries. Wonder if that would work??
- Raquel
  
  June 16, 2011 at 8:46 am
  
  Reply
  
  I just used frozen strawberries and they did stay at the bottom of the cake, they did not lift up throughout the cake like in the picture above. They were also very soggy. Overall the cake is still a success, very tasty even though the appearance is not what I was expecting. Will be going with fresh berries next time! Hope this helps!
  - Grace
    
    June 17, 2011 at 12:19 pm
    
    Reply
    
    Unfortunately strawberries tend to be too soggy for most baking I find. Too bad, because they’re my favorite of all berries. However maybe you can just make the cake by itself and then have strawberries as the topping? I think that would be good too.
Rose

June 14, 2011 at 9:32 pm

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Looking at my cake that just came out of the over, I wish I would have gently folded the berries into the batter instead of just putting them on the bottom of the pan because they didn’t go up at all like Catherine’s did and are only on the bottom instead of throughout the cake… just FYI… Still going to taste so good!!!
Rose

June 14, 2011 at 8:51 pm

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I’m with Larissa! I just put the pan in the oven and the batter was soooo yummy – love the lemon zest in there!(Not gonna lie-have the reason for me to bake is to “test” the batter/dough Blackberries in Michigan have no flavor so I used raspberries and blueberries. Can’t wait to give the finished product a try!
- Courtney
  
  June 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm
  
  Reply
  
  My berries were so huge that the batter barely covered them so it wasn’t a problem but if they were smaller that would definitely be a good idea.
  - Courtney
    
    June 21, 2011 at 1:21 pm
    
    Reply
    
    Sorry, meant to reply to your other comment
Melissa

June 14, 2011 at 8:13 pm

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Yum! I couldn’t wait; just put this in the oven (with blueberries). For some reason, after I added the milk, my batter looked awfully (for lack of a better description) separated. Went ahead and baked it; we’ll see what happens! I only had 1% milk but I am not sure why that would make the batter look that way… Hope it turns out, it is just what I’ve had a taste for and my 7 year old is a blueberry maniac. Thanks for the recipe!
- Naomi
  
  June 16, 2011 at 2:28 pm
  
  Reply
  
  I find that bringing the milk to room temperature or warmer prevented the “seperating”. After I added the dry ingredients, it didn’t matter anyway. My cake is cooling at waiting to be taste tested!
Vanessa

June 14, 2011 at 5:05 pm

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Yummy! I too love all berries. I save the blackberries for last if I have an assortment. I did have lots of berries this morning but I kept eating them and them put tons on my waffles. I need to go get more so I can make this!