Perfection In A Slice Of Cake

A few months ago I noticed that my cousin Rashi in Alpharetta had posted a beautiful picture of a blackberry cake on her Facebook page. She had baked this beauty for her weekly Torah and Tea class (I have borrowed the concept and now host my own Torah and Tea on Wednesday nights!).

Being a big lover of cake -as most of us are, and a big lover of blackberries, I asked her for the recipe. I was delighted to find that she was using a recipe from a Kosher By Design cookbook for a lemon bundt cake, and was simply adding blackberries. It is a super simple - and super delicious recipe. 

After baking the cake once or twice, I decided to make some changes. I played around with the recipe until I got it to be exactly what I wanted. After seeing Rashi add the blackberries, I decided to give it a whirl. The results were amazing. I served it for dessert that Friday night and it was gobbled up. I made the cake again this week since I had an abundance of blackberries. In the words of one of my guests, "it was the best pareve dessert I've ever tasted". By some miracle I managed to hold on to a piece of the cake until Shabbos was over so I could snap a picture - and then it was promptly finished by yours truly :)

Here is the recipe the way I have been making it for years (it loses some ingredients and gains some new ones which aren't in the original)

Blackberry Cake

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 eggs (best if room temperature)

2 cups blackberries

Preheat oven to 350.  (I baked mine on convection - makes it even better!)

Add all of the ingredients except the blackberries into a mixing bowl and mix well. Wash blackberries and add to the bowl. Using a spatula or spoon, gently fold the berries into the cake batter.  Pour into a cake pan coated with Pam and bake for about 45 minutes - or until a toothpick comes out clear.

Enjoy!