blackberry tart

I picked about a kilo of blackberries at the weekend and made jam.  Went out yesterday and picked a load more so I thought I would make a blackberry tart with a tangy lemon layer.



For the pastry:

150g plain flour
75g butter
1 tbsp icing sugar
water to mix


rub the butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.  Sprinkle in the icing sugar then add water to form a soft pastry.  Grease a 22cm round loose-bottomed tart/flan tin and line with the pastry.  Cover with grease-proof paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake at 180c for about 15 minutes.  Remove the beans and paper, and bake for a further 10 minutes or so until the pastry is cooked and golden brown.

I always line the tin with the pastry but don't trim until after it has blind baked for 15 minutes.  I find if you trim with a bread knife you end up with a nice clean finish.

For the lemon filing:

140ml water
1 lemon (juice and zest)
15g cornflour
1 egg yolk
small knob of butter
55g caster sugar

Put the cornflour in a jug with a couple of spoonfulls of water.  Bring the remainder of the water to the boil with lemon zest and pour this over the cornflour.  Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, add the lemon juice and boil until thick.  Add the sugar and butter and beat until smooth.  When the mixture has cooled down slightly, beat in the egg yolk.  Pour this into the cooked pastry case.

Once the lemon filing has set, arrange the blackberries on top then prepare the blackberry jelly.

For the blackberry jelly:

About 100g blackberries (I used the squashy and small ones that were leftover)
enough water to just stop the blackberries from burning
a table spoon of sugar
6g gelatine

Boil the blackberries with the water and sugar.  Strain to remove all the pips and pulp, then measure out the liquid.  You need 200ml of liquid in total so add more water as necessary.  Bring this back to the boil, sprinkle over the gelatine and whisk until combined.  Allow to cool then pour onto the tart over the blackberries.  Allow to set - takes about 1 1/2 hours in the fridge - and sprinkle with a little icing sugar.

Serve with a cup of tea and a sunny day

owl cake

A leaving cake for someone at work who likes owls.  It was either that or a lemon cake but the owl won the day. 

I made a three layer cake - two chocolate and one vanilla.  To make the chocolate I used my trusty very chocolate cake recipe in 2 20cm loose bottomed tins.  For the single vanilla layer

115g stork
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

cream the stork and sugar together.  Add the eggs, then beat in the flour and baking powder.  Bake in a 20cm round tin for approx 25 minutes until perfectly done.

I had a slight accident with one of the chocolate layers and actually cracked it in half as I moved it.  Never mind, made up some ganache with 150ml of double cream and 150g of plain chocolate.  With all the skill of a plasterer I smoothed it over and layer up the cake - chocolate cake, ganache, vanilla, ganache, chocolate, with an extra coating of ganache all over to help the icing to stick.  Using ready-made chocolate fondant icing I covered the cake and decorated in a rather 'angry bird' owl fashion.  Not too bad for a first attempt I think.