Berry Bakewell Squares

The theme for this month’s What’s Baking challenge is baking with fruit. I actually had lots of ideas for this month, as baking with fruit is something that I do fairly often. The main challenge for me is baking when the house is so warm, but I was able to make this one morning before the house got too warm. 

This is a British recipe that I found in an advertisement for Lakeland, which is a cooking store in the UK. I really like Bakewell Tarts, which is a tart that has a layer of jam covered by an almond filling. I was hopeful that these would be bar cookie-like, but this is certainly more like a coffee cake. You can use whatever berries you have on hand. I had blueberries and cherries in the freezer and I used those. I didn’t even thaw the berries! You can use whatever fruit you happen to like, and it seems to work whether the fruit is fresh or frozen.

As this is a British recipe, this cake isn’t as sweet as most American cake recipes. I found the fruit to be fairly tart, too. I don’t think this resembled a Bakewell Tart, but it was still a nice coffee cake. It is a great way to use of different bits of fruit that you may have on hand. I had a lot of fun deciding which recipe to bake for this theme, and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.

Berry Bakewell Squares

250 grams/9 ounces butter

200 grams/7 ounces sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

200 grams/7 ounces self-rising flour*

50 grams/2 ounces ground almonds

½ teaspoon salt

275 grams/10 ounces berries of your choice

½ sliced almonds

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 355 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, over medium low heat, melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, vanilla, and eggs and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Add the flour, ground almonds, and salt and stir until the batter comes together. The batter may be slightly lumpy. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, then cover the baking pan with foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes. A thin knife inserted into the center comes out nearly clean.

Allow to cool in the baking pan for 20 minutes before removing from the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into squares to serve.

Recipe from Lakeland
 

*I make my own self-rising flour by combining 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt