Batter up to make blackberry cake

Fresh blackberries, when perfectly ripe, stand alone as the perfect mouthful of pure fruit. Unfortunately, though, too often the less-than-ripe specimens get mixed in with the ready ones.

The blackberry’s ripening pattern takes it from green to red to that telltale shade of deep purplish blue, which is the indicator of ripeness. A blackberry is only truly sweet and ripe if one hundred per cent of the drupelets have reached that saturated dark hue. If even a single drupelet is still red, chances are the entire berry will be inedibly sour.

What to do if your precious haul is an uneven combination or ripe and unripe? Make a buckle.

Yes, a buckle: a yellow cake with a generous amount of berries folded directly into the batter.

This is a wonderful way to make good use of less-than-optimally sweet blackberries. This one tastes best when served warm, with a high-quality vanilla yogurt (regular or frozen) on the side, for a delightful afternoon tea or weekend brunch.

In the off-season (or the not-yet-season) you can make this with frozen, unsweetened blackberries, which are pretty easy to find, bagged, in the freezers of most grocery stores. Don’t bother to defrost them - just break them up so that they are separate, and proceed.

Raspberries make a good substitute if you can’t get blackberries.

Blackberry buckle

Unwrap the butter well ahead of time and let it soften directly in the mixing bowl.

Nonstick spray for the pan

3 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen unsweetened

1 tablespoon sugar (or to taste)

3/4 cup ( 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

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