Mulberry. White Chocolate. Almond. These are three ingredients that skyrocket past the sum of their parts when they’re combined. This cake is like a blazing guitar solo from Jefferson Starship. It’s a roller-coaster of textures, a riot of flavours. It’s a very good cake.
Sometimes I get sick of baking. Not the act of doing it, that’s always fun. Playing with goos and fats and powders and pastes will never get old for me, because in my heart I will always be five. Rather, it’s the way people think about, talk about and relate to baked goods. Take, for example, the insta-donut. It never gets eaten, only photographed. It’s covered in bright pink glaze and mounds of sugar sprinkles and candy and…does it really taste good? Could it possibly taste better than a hot cinnamon donut? Does anyone enjoy the feeling of that sugary pink icing sliding past their teeth as they bite in? I’m guessing no.
I know what you’re thinking: Sarah, you posted an enormous unicorn cake COVERED in buttercream on Monday. What’s the word…hypocrite? And yes, sure, I’ll take that. Because to be honest the whole time I was writing about that donut I was thinking about how fun it would be to make one. And sometimes making something aesthetically outrageous just for the sake of it IS fun. But it’s a bummer to think that home baker-baking is a dying art.
That’s what this cake is; a home baker’s cake. It’s flat, it’s brown, it’s not layered, it’s not sprinkled. But it will B L O W your mind with deliciousness. You can really taste every element here – the butter, the almond, the white chocolate, the precious and elusive mulberries. Every ingredient invited into this cake gets their moment to shine, like Leo finally did at the Oscars. Everyone’s nominated, and when you bite into a still-warm slice, buttery and bursting with mulberries and white chocolate, with roundness and crunch from the almonds, you’ll see that everyone’s a winner here too. Long live home-style cakes.
xx Sarah.
- 1 + ¼ sticks (150g) butter, softened
- ½ cup (100g) caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- 1 + ¼ cups (125g) almond meal
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 4oz (100g) white chocolate (good quality!)
- 1 cup mulberries (blackberries, loganberries or raspberries would be great)
- ¼ cup flaked almonds
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and butter a 10 inch (25cm) fluted tart tin.
- Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together on high speed until pale and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is well incorporated.
- Add the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture, and stir until everything is well combined. Stir through half the white chocolate and mulberries, and then scrape into the tart tin, and smooth out with a palette knife.
- Scatter over the remaining white chocolate, mulberries and almonds, pressing them gently into the batter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown all over, and a skewer comes out with a lot of moist crumbs, but no raw batter. Leave to cool in the tin, and then unmold carefully and serve slightly warm.
What a unique take on a pie!
Kari
Hey Kari – I think you maybe meant to comment on something else? This is a cake boo! xx
this cake looks amazing too! in an “this would be amazing for tea and i could definitely pass this off as acceptable breakfast hehe” way. and there’s so many bakeries in la that have cakes like this (gjusta, huckleberry, etc), and they’re perfectly addictive and delicious AND instagrammable.
Hey Heather – Glad you like it! Thanks bb!
You have no idea how happy I am to see this cake! My great grandmother had a mulberry tree in her backyard and we would climb and pick and eat during that very short season. With white chocolate and almonds, that’s a little bit of heaven.
What a beautiful memory! Aren’t they such a delicious berry? Truly heavenly. xx
What a flavour! This cake sounds amaaaaazing!
This looks awesome! love it! adding baking with mulberry to my ever growing list!
This is always a struggle for me too, I gravitate towards what the final product will look like and have to remind myself that the taste is what’s most important. I think that’s what happens living in an era with social media. But to be honest, I think this kind of cake looks fabulous all on its own!
I don’t think i’ve ever tried a mulberry, what are they like? I don’t know if I can get them in the UK.
This looks great and I know exactly what you mean about baking, although I make so much patisserie on my blog, when people come for dinner, I make crumbles, pavlova, baked fruit etc and all the comfort stuff!
This looks delicious and something that I would love.
Hey Angela – they’re delicious. I’m lucky enough to have a mulberry tree in my yard, but they can be hard to find otherwise. They are a unique berry, similar to a cross between a blackberry, a raspberry and a blueberry. In other words – delicious! And perfect for the homey-bakes! xx
I really enjoy making over-the-top fancy layer cakes, but when it comes to actually eating cake I would pick a simple unadorned one like this every time. I love that you baked it in a fluted tart tin, that is all the decoration it needs. the flavours sound delicious as well, I’ve never tried (or seen!) a mulberry before, they sound really tasty, what a shame I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find any…
Don’t give up on Mulberries! If all else fails, maybe you can plant a tree? I have one in my yard, and I don’t do a damn thing to it, and it’s doing great! But then we probably live in different climates. Ah well, you never know! xx
did you chop the white chocolate into chunks (if so, how big), or did you melt it before adding it?
Hey Angela,
The white chocolate is chopped, yes! The chunks can be however big you want – mmine were about jelly bean size. And these are topped with a dab of greek yoghurt, but I don’t think this cake needs anything, honestly! xx
oh also, in the pictures are you just topping it with whipped cream? looks amazing!
Just made this cake, and it turned out so delicious! I was a bit unsure, though, when I was making the batter, and it came together as more of a dough-like consistency. I was worried that the berries would end up all mashed from incorporating them into the thick mixture, so I thinned the batter out with about a half cup of water. Like I said, it turned out fine in the end, but I’m wondering if I did something wrong…
Hey Angela! First of all, thanks for commenting! I’m glad that you liked the cake, and it seems like you trusted your baking instincts and it turned out so that’s great! The batter for this cake is certainly very thick, though I would describe it more as a paste (like the texture or Peanut Butter) than a dough – and definitely the berries just need to be quickly folded through. If yours was very thick like a dough, then I would guess maybe your almond meal was a little denser than mine, resulting in a thicker mix. But it sounds like you troubleshooted and it was all good! Which is what it’s all about! xx
Hey! I love love love your blog! I absolutely agree with what you said about the Home baking baker style! i like sprinkles like the my heart and soul lies with the Home baker baking.
Thanks Keisha! I love that we’re on the same page. xx