Blackberry days

It's the right time to be baking. And not because of the Great British Bake off either, although I do love the programme in a perverse sort of way. Mary Berry is a national treasure and I admire the talent and fortitude of many of the contestants...but as an impetus to improve my baking skills....no!

Don't get me wrong, I adore cooking...and I am particularly partial to home made cake, tray bakes, and biscuits. What I call homely baking. I'm a whizz with  banana and chocolate loaf, apple cake, blackberry loaf, and Bridget's biscuits .They're all very simple things that can be whisked up at the drop of a hat, and don't take too much effort. My Lemon drizzle cake and Turkish orange cake taste lovely, but I wouldn't score highly on presentation.

You see, I'm rather slapdash when it comes to cooking and baking. I throw things in, roughly measuring them on my old sweetie scales as I go along and hoping for the best. I'm what my mother  calls "kack handed" - I tend to end up wearing as much of the cake mixture as goes into the oven, and flour just seems to drift and cover the kitchen .

The thought of being precise, being judged and being what I call downright fanciful, just gives me the heeby jeebies when it comes to baking. There's quite enough pressure in my life thank you without sweating my guts out on a set in the middle of nowhere with lots of other contestants who are lovely but wanting to beat me at the same time.

So it's not the Bake off which is getting me itchy and twitchy to start baking again...it's the time of year. Autumn. There's been so many blackberries this year, and I can only freeze so many....so it's time for a blackberry loaf.

Now I don't know where this recipe came from...or when...but it's written on a scrap of paper, in my handwriting.

It's really easy to make, and can keep for about five days. Having said that, this loaf doesn't last long...it's very moreish.

I give you a Blackberry loaf for a kack handed cook....

 Ingredients

3 and a half oz of butter
2tspn baking powder
8oz plain flour
1oz oats
5oz of sugar
2 ad a half oz blackberries
6 fluid oz milk
a beaten egg

So here's what you do....

1.Grease and line a 1 lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2.Sift the baking powder and flour into a mixing bowl then add the oats, sugar and half of the blackberries. Mix together

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan , then stir in the milk and egg. (Careful now...you don't want scrambled egg!)

4.Put the mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix, before turning into the loaf tin. Sprinkle the rest of the blackberries on the top of the mixture.

5. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius...that's 350 fahreneheit for about 50minutes to an hour until firm to touch.

6.leave in the tin for about 5 minutes, the put on a rack and sprinkle with a handful of sugar.

And there you have it...a very simple loaf, which wouldn't win any prizes when it comes to beauty and fiddlyness in the Great British Bake off...but which is simply lovely about elevenish with a strong cup of coffee.


Today's track is "Blackberry Way" ...not by the Move or ELO...but by the Wonder Stuff. I really like this version...