It's A Blackberry Summer

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Our beautiful summer days have produced a bumper crop of Himalayan blackberries. Many consider them to be a noxious weed. It's true they are invasive and their canes are thorny, but their flowers add wonderful color to riverbanks and roadsides, and the berries, when picked at the proper stage of ripeness, are delicious. While out walking today, I came across a family picking berries on the riverbank and a long forgotten memory swept over me. During WWII my mother kept a victory garden that we'd visit everyday. It was one of many in a large lot whose boundaries were marked by dense thickets of thorny blackberries. The berries lured pint-sized pickers whose arms needed protection before the thicket could be braved. Unfortunately, the heat of the Midwestern summer made long sleeves impractical, so my ingenious mother cut the toes off old socks and fashioned high gloves for my sister and I to wear for berry picking. We, and the other children of the neighborhood, got to be expert at recognizing berries at the perfect stage of ripeness and had contests to see who could pick the most. I never won because I ate better than half of what I picked. These days I leave the berry picking for others to enjoy, but I've become proficient at finding ways to use the berries when they come my way. This homely recipe makes a great breakfast cake that's nearly effortless to prepare. If you have blackberries on hand you might want to give it a try.

Banana Cake with Walnut and Cream Cheese Icing

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Banana cake can be ho-hum affair, so please accept what follows as my attempt to make bananas and banana cake a bit more interesting. Buried in the annuls of music history is a song called "Yes, We Have No Bananas". It was popular in the 1920's and the phrase was used on signs posted by British grocers decades later to let patrons know they were in compliance with bans that prohibited the importation of the fruit during WWII. It's generally thought that the song was inspired by a banana blight in Brazil, but it is harder to identify who originated the phrase. Some credit Jimmy Costas, a Long Island grocer, for the catch phrase. Others believe the honor should be given to the cartoonist, Thomas Dorgan. Whatever the case may be, the song became the theme of the Outdoor Relief protests that took place in Belfast, Ireland in 1932. Ironically, it was one of the few secular songs that both the Protestants and Catholics knew and could sing together. Over the years, the song has lent its title to a book about the depression in Belfast and been mentioned or heard in the movies "Sabrina" and "The English Patient." I'm told the phrase was used as late as 2006 in Australia, when a large portion of the country's banana crop was destroyed by a cyclone and caused a shortage for most of the year. Now, as it happens, my family of banana lovers have assured that I have bananas aplenty these days. This moist and flavorful cake is one of my favorite ways to use them. If you like banana cake, I hope you'll give this version a try. The frosting is especially nice. Yes, we do have bananas, we do have bananas today. Here is a lovely way to use them.

An Old-Fashioned Apple Butter Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...When I was quite young apple butter was the breakfast spread of choice. Butter and sugar were rationed, so back in the day those wise old cooks used recipes, some of which predated colonial America, to make a highly concentrated form of apple sauce that was spreadable and could be used in place of butter on morning toast. Fruit butters are sweet spreads made of fruits that are cooked to a paste and then lightly sweetened. Apple butter has a longer shelf life than applesauce and it is a wonderful way to use the last of the apple crop. I mention this, because I came across a recipe for an apple butter cake that sounded much like the one I had as a child. In order to make it, I thought I'd put-by my own apple butter, but on reflection, I wasn't sure I wanted 12 pints of it taking up my limited pantry space. I called around and found a store that carried apple butter, so there was no reason not to give the cake a try. The recipe is simple and as close to can't fail as they come, the cake is inexpensive to make and it is perfect way to end an informal fall meal. These cakes have a tendency to be dry, so be sure to spoon the flour into your measure and level off the excess, rather than scooping it directly into the cup. I'd also advise using a liquid rather than a dry measure for the apple butter and buttermilk. The apple butter gives this cake a subtle apple flavor, but in my opinion it is more like a spice cake. I've cut back on the ground cloves that appeared in the original recipe, and have used mace to replace most of it. You can experiment with the spices until you come up with a combination that is to your liking. This is a simple cake, so I dress it up a bit by using a flour buttercream to frost it. I've shared that frosting recipe before, but if you need a reminder you can find the recipe here. Here is how the apple butter-spice cake is made. Do give it a try.

Coffee and Cocoa Crumb Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The weather today has been iffy and colder than I had hoped. At the last minute, I scrapped plans for an ice cream crunch cake and decided to make this mocha snack cake for dessert instead. While the cake lacks sophistication and is quite plain looking, it is really really good. It has a depth of flavor and crumb that will appeal to those who like the less-sweet European-style desserts, and when it is served warm, it will make your socks go up and down. At the insistence of the Silver Fox, I served it with an intensely flavored vanilla bean ice cream. That, of course, made my plan to toss the original cake seem a bit vapid, but then we aim to please around here, so warm mocha and ice cream was the order of the day. I do hope you'll try this recipe. I know you will enjoy the cake. It is hard to beat easy and delicious and this cake is both. Here is how it is made.

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We are several weeks shy of one year in our new home. While we love the new place, it's about 1500 square feet smaller than the house on the hill, so it has become especially important for us to keep an eye on objects and determine if they are worth the space they occupy. Nowhere is that more important than in the kitchen, and at this time of year, my personal challenge is to work through the contents of my freezer and pantry before things pass their sell date or are impossibly freezer burned. I always find something that surprises me, and this year, while turning the pantry, I found three 1-quart jars of apple pie filling that I had put-by two years ago. For reasons that escape me now, I decided to bring them with us when we moved last year. I could have used them to make apple pie, but I wanted to do something a little different, so I went searching for some new recipes that used prepared pie filling. The recipe I'm featuring tonight was develop by Nancy Dynes and I found it on her blog, Tattered Treasures. I know that those of you who have a sweet tooth will enjoy this coffee cake, but I must warn the rest of you that it is sweet. I used one-third the glaze that was suggested in the recipe and that was plenty for our taste. The cake is simple to make and the use of canned/jarred pie filling makes quick work of it preparation. I do hope you will try this. It is a nice brunch cake to serve to family and good friends and it is lovely when served warm. Here is how it's made.