This is one of the recipes from the Friends of Rye Cookbook, released by Holly Wulff-Petersen to celebrate one year of Rye London back in 2018. It featured recipes from some of London’s most exciting food writers, those who created wonderful memories and hosted shoots and events in the Rye studio whilst it was open.
Benjamina’s Blackberry Cake was initially inspired by the spices in mulled wine around Christmas time when the book was released, but it’s undoubtedly a cake that can be made all throughout Autumn and into early Winter.
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 40 minutes + cooling time
Cook time: 35-40 minutes
Photography & Styling: Holly Wulff-Petersen
Season: Autumn & Early Winter
Ingredients
For the cake:
150ml milk
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
275g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
225g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
For the spiced wine jam:
180ml red wine
600g plums, halved and stoned
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
450g jam sugar
1/2 an orange, thickly sliced
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g blackberries
To serve:
200g mascarpone
2 tbsp icing sugar
blackberries
Method
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Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease and line two 6 inch cake tins.
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Gently heat the milk in a saucepan with cinnamon sticks and crushed cardamom. Remove from the heat and let it steep for 15 minutes.
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Sift together the flour, baking powder, and ground cinnamon and set aside.
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Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
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Mix in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk and the remaining flour.
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Divide the batter evenly between the tins and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
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To make the jam, add the wine, plums, cinnamon sticks, star anise and nutmeg to a large saucepan. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the plums have softened.
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Add the remaining ingredients and boil for a further 10-15 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon.
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Remove the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and orange slices and pour into a shallow tray to cool quickly or into sterilised jars.
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Beat together the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth.
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Once the cakes are completely cool, level each one with a serrated knife. Sandwich the cakes together with the jam and half of the mascarpone. Top with the remaining mascarpone and fresh berries.
Read more: Friends of Rye
The Friends of Rye e-book was written in celebration of all the wonderful people that came and went through Rye whilst the studio existed in London. Shot by Holly Wulff-Petersen, you can find more from the studio’s time in London and her upcoming space in Barcelona on her website.
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