Wild blackberry and almond tart

Picking wild fruits has always been one of my favourite activities.

When I was a kid, my grandparents had a family house near Lyon (France), next to which there was a cherry orchard. Every year, during the cherry season, we'd drive the 350km separating us from the house to spend a long weekend there with the whole family (uncles, aunts, cousins and all). My grandpa and grandma would have arrived a few days early to get the house ready and repair their two best ladders. By the time we'd get there, grandpa would have set his ladders against the two bigger trees in the orchard, declaring the cherry picking open. 

For three days, my cousins and I would spend most of our time in the orchard, eating and picking cherries, splitting each tree between the lower branches, to be taken care of by the little kids, and the higher by the taller kids (I was a very little kid, so I mostly stood below the ladder and waited for my older cousins to drop cherries onto my palm). We'd proudly bring back a hamper full of the big dark red cherries to my grandma, who would turn them into the most delicious cherry clafoutis, that we'd eat at every meal for 3 days. 

These days belong to the happiest memories of my childhood.

Today, there is no cherry orchard next to my parents house, but my dad has kept up the family tradition and every time I go visit them during the blackberry season, I join my dad, my little nieces and nephews for a wild blackberry picking session and I'm pretty sure that, like me, these moments will also be engraved in their memories for a long time. 

Wild blackberry and almond tart

We picked these blackberries about 10 days ago in the six miles of bushes that along the cycle path going from Canterbury to Whitstable.
Blackberries and almond work wonders together, but a classic almond frangipane can easily over-power the blackberries.
I made an almond base without butter spread it relatively thin on the pastry case, so it would not bubble up into the blackberries, taste quite subtle, soak up just enough the juices of the blackberries to ensure the pastry would remain crisp.
I find the result perfect, and this tart is a real celebration of our local wild blackberries.

Ingredients 

For the sweet pastry: 
250 g flour
100g butter, cubed and slightly softened
100g confectioners'/icing sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
2 medium eggs, at room temperature 

For the almond base:
2 eggs
40g demerara sugar
100g ground almonds 

For the blackberry topping:
Approx 500g of blackberries
4tbsp demerara sugar
Sliced almonds, for decoration 

Instructions 

Make the pastry:

1/ Put the flour in a mound on a counter and make a well. Put in the butter, confectioners'/icing sugar, and salt and mix together with your finger tips.

2/ Gradually draw in the flour into the centre and mix with your finger tips until the dough becomes slightly grainy.

3/ Again, make a well and add the eggs. Work them into the flour mixture, using your fingertips, until the dough begins to hold together.

4/ When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it a few times with the palm of your hand until smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and rest in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours before using.

5/ 15min before the end of the pastry's resting period, preheat the oven at 170deg C and prepare the almond base: in a bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork. Add the sugar and ground almonds, and whisk until well combined. 

6/ When the dough is rested and you are ready to use it, unwrap and roll out on a lightly floured counter to a 2 - 3 mm thickness (depending in how thick you like it. This pastry is quite solid, so you can roll it out thin if you like). 

7/ Line a tart dish with the pastry, cut out the pieces hanging over, cover the pastry with baking parchment and dried beans or baking beans, and bake blind for 10mins. Remove the baking beans and parchment, and bake for further 5mins until lightly golden. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 10-15min.

8/ Spread the almond base evenly on the pastry case.

9/ In a bowl mix the blackberries with the demerara sugar, and spread evenly on top of the almond base. Sprinkle with sliced almonds, and bake for 25-35 min. (Take care that the pastry case doesn't burn)

Pastry recipe adapted from Michel Roux's pâte sucrée by The Messy Baker

Baking for a Jedi: Fruit Summer Pudding

"You under-estimate my powers, my Master" says Anakin defiantly to Obi Wan Kenobi only 3 minutes before the latter cuts both his legs and one of his arms off with his laser, leaving him slowly almost burning to death on the side of a volcano. 
We all know what happened next to our dear Anakin Skywalker. 

I've been baking for 4 years now, and I often get tempted to improvise recipes myself. Adding a bit of this, swapping this with that...
When it works, it works really well, at least most of the time. I’ve done a few tricks over the years, and I now can swap ingredients or turn a cake into muffins by changing a few things here and there.
But every so often I am reminded by the God of Cake that I'm still a beginner, and that recipes often list specific steps for you to follow for a reason.

Baking is like training to be Jedi: while trying to cultivate one's creativity, one should never be tricked into over-confidence.

(Thankfully, I've messed up a few cakes but haven't turned into Darth Vador)

Summer Fruit Pudding

aka The Lovely Berry Bursting Pudding

So easy to make, this no-bake summer dessert is so delicious and so impressive that I don't understand how I could live for 4 years in the UK without it.

I was sceptical about the idea of making a pudding with bread, yet, it does give fantastic results. 

The traditional summer fruit pudding recipe calls for white loaf, but I wanted to experiment a funkier version of it using waffles (not too loud, I recognise that the bread version is even better!)


Ingredients: 
750g of mixed red fruits, frozen (it's cheaper than fresh!)
50g of caster sugar (more or less, to taste)
1 good quality white loaf, or little toasting waffles (I bought mine from Lidl)
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Make the pudding: 
1/ Grease the inside of a 1L pudding basin (with butter or oil spray) 

2/ Line the sides and bottom of the basin with thick slices of bread / waffles, taking care not to leave any gaps and covering all the sides. 

3/ From the fruits selection you have, put a handful aside (you'll leave these in the freezer) and put the rest in a pan with the sugar and lemon juice over a low heat. Leave to cook, mixing gently, for 10 to 15 min, until the fruits soften. They should release about half a pint of juice.

4/ With a sieve, drain the fruit mixture into a bowl and make sure you keep all the collected juice for later. Delicately put the sieved fruits into the basin, pressing down gently so they are well packed and come up to the top of the bread level. Then close what will be the base of the pudding with additional slices of bread. To ensure the pudding sets properly some pressure needs to be applied. So cover the base with foil and place a pan or a heavy bowl on top to act as a weight. The 'weight' will need to be roughly the same size as the base, so that the pressure is uniform. 

5/ Leave to set in the fridge over night. Before serving, pass a knife around the edges of the pudding and gently turn over on a deep plate. Pour the juice left aside all over the cake so it soaks it completely, especially where the bread or waffle is still white. Gently lift the bottom of the pudding so some juice goes under it and soaks the bottom as well.

6/ Decorate with the left over fruits (you can use them frozen, they will defreeze in few minutes), few leaves of fresh mint, and serve with cream.

This post is dedicated to Joan. Thank you for welcoming me in your home and making me discover the delights of the summer fruit pudding!