Berry crumble traybake
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 10–12
- Dietary
- Pregnancy-friendlyVegetarian
This easy layered traybake is inspired by American coffee cakes – which contain no actual coffee, but are meant to be eaten with your morning cuppa.
If you are really pushed for time, you could use a very good quality soft jam for the filling, but it will be much sweeter.
By Emily Angle
Ingredients
For the berry filling
- 200g/7oz frozen berries (raspberries, blackberries, cherries, blueberries, blackcurrants all work well, or a mix)
- 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour
For the crumble topping
- 110g/4oz plain flour
- 70g/2½oz cold unsalted butter, cut into smallish cubes
- 30g/1oz caster sugar
For the cake
- 220g/8oz plain flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 50g/1¾oz ground almonds
- 200g/7oz caster sugar
- 80g/3oz butter, melted
- 2 free-range eggs
- 40g/1½oz plain yoghurt, thinned with 2 tbsp milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line a rectangular baking tin (approximately 26x20cm/10½x8in).
To make the berry filling, in a saucepan combine the fruit with 50ml/2fl oz water. Bring the fruit just to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes.
In a mixing bowl combine the caster sugar with the cornflour. Stir into the fruit and continue to cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thick and jammy. Set aside to cool.
To make the crumble topping, add the flour to a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and no large lumps of butter are left. Stir in the sugar and set aside.
To make the cake, in a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir in the ground almonds until thoroughly combined.
In another bowl beat together the sugar with the melted butter, eggs, yoghurt and milk mixture until thoroughly mixed. Stir into the flour mixture just to combine. Don’t overmix it, but watch out for big lumps of unmixed flour.
Spoon two-thirds of the mixture into the lined tin, gently spreading out evenly to the corners. Spoon the cooled fruit mixture evenly over the top.
Using a teaspoon, dot the remaining cake batter evenly on top of the fruit. This will not cover the entire cake, but make little hillocks with gaps in between.
Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top, filling in all the gaps to cover the fruit.
Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the crumble topping is golden-brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then transfer the cake in its paper to a wire rack. This cake is beautiful eaten while still warm, with a dollop of crème fraîche or yoghurt – but is equally nice the next day with a cup of coffee.
