Mulberry Apple Loaf - Berry #3

Midway...... They look different with every slice, I love it

The recipe from BBC Good Food looked so nice, and been bookmarking this recipe for more than 2 years. So much so that I have lost the link as I have formatted my PC quite a few times, but I still remember this recipe existed on BBC, so a quick google won't take much time to retrieve.

Blackberries are not cheap here, one box can cost me a few lunch's worth of $$. Mulberry is the only berry that we can grow in our constant over 30-38C day time temperature. And nowadays it's easily available in the gardens of many households. Constant pruning will yield more fruits.

A relative of mine had a big mulberry plant at her home and it was fruiting furiously. She collected them over a few days when they have turned really dark and ripe. She kept the berries in the fridge and I happened to be there. And she happily gave all of them to me, saying they don't eat it. Thanks Aunt CP. When I reached home, I threw them into the freezer.. for a few weeks.

Until this day, I finally baked the cake and it was the only berry cake that my hubby praised me upon first bite. Usually he doesn't quite enjoy bakes with berries as he finds it to be on the tart side and it has his hated 'cinnamon'. My eldest asked me to bake this again when she found out the cake was gone.

I actually made a mistake by putting the cinnamon into the 'dough', so I topped up with more cinnamon on the streusel topping. It turned out to be a good mistake. Do repeat my mistake. This cake bakes longer than the usual 35-45 minutes for this cake size so, don't be surprised that it takes an hour to bake. This loaf also employs a different technique to bake.. and that is rub in. It's my first time baking with this method and the result was quite crumbly (in a good way) and soft. Just don't over rub and over mix and it'll be fine.

First slice :)

Mulberry Apple Loaf
Reference: BBC Good Food with adaptations

125g self-raising flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
87g butter
87g brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 heaped Tbsp grated green apple
1 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp lemon zest
115g mulberries

Topping
1 heaped Tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C. Prepare a 1L capacity loaf pan, fully lined.
2. Sift self raising flour with baking soda and baking powder. Put in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and mix until crumbs form.
3. Remove 50gm of the crumbs and keep them in the freezer.
4. Mix grated apple, egg and lemon zest together.
5. Pour the apple mixture into crumbs and mix them until just moistened. No need to be smooth.
6. Put 3/4 of the mulberries in and gently fold.
7. Pour the batter into prepared pan and level it. Top with remaining mulberries.
8. Remove the reserved crumbs from freezer and mix with the topping ingredients. (It should look crumbly).
9. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter in pan.
10. Bake for 1 hour or until cake is done.