Blackberry Custard Cake Recipe
Sinkology is proud to present Emily Schuermann, our food-loving guest blogger who runs Food for a Year. Emily is here to share some recipes she has created exclusively for the Sinkology blog that reflect her view of a copper sink: simple, timeless, affordable and beautifully rustic.
This simple, quick recipe is perfect for breakfast, brunch or dessert. But simple and quick doesn’t convey just how deliciously satisfying this custard cake is. Warm, sweet custard filling, packed with tart, fresh blackberries, tops the most perfect sweet & buttery crust. All we need are a few basic ingredients and a little baking magic.
So let’s talk ingredients ::
- cake mix
- butter
- cream
- blackberries
- sugar
- vanilla
- cinnamon
Rather than using a boxed cake mix, I love making my own cake mix and storing it in bulk. Keeping a “cake mix” canister in the pantry not only simplifies recipe making, it also cuts out all of those unnecessary, hard-to-pronounce additives. You can check out my favorite bulk cake mix recipe HERE.
Once the butter & cream are cut into the cake mix, the crust can be pressed into a prepared baking dish. This next step is where the magic happens! Sprinkle another ½ cup of the cake mix over the crust. This will help create the prefect custard cake by thickening the cream & eggs while lightly puffing them at the same time.
Layer fresh blackberries over the cake mix crust and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of turnbinado sugar. ((Actually, any fresh berry will work perfectly, but blackberries grow wild in Oklahoma in the late spring and early summer months.))That little bit of crystalized sugar helps cut that sour tartness blackberries are notorious for.
Whisk together cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and another ¾ T of cake mix in order to prepare the quick custard filling.
Last, pour the filling over the blackberries and bake the dish at 375° for 40 minutes.
Baking powder, one of the 4 ingredients in my bulk cake mix, is the secret to perfectly puffed custard.
The top is a beautiful golden brown flecked with pops of bright magenta from the bursted blackberries, while the center is sweet and creamy with just at hint of cinnamon. And then there is that quick cake mix crust, crisp & sweet, with the perfect amount of salty butteriness. It is just too delicious to be so simple ((yay! Simple & delicious are always the best recipes, don’t you agree?!)).
However, the real dilemma comes in the name — I hesitate to label this recipe as a “cake” for fear that it will cause me to feel guilty when eating it for breakfast. Although I find it hard to allow this treat to cool slightly before digging in, once that first warm bite hits my mouth, that guilty thought flies out the door! Suddenly, this Blackberry Custard Cake seems equally appropriate for lunch and dinner too, haha!
How perfect will this be for a wedding or baby shower brunch?! Or how about that potluck?? ((Or a late night snack for that matter!)) This recipe is delightfully different and sure to be a hit.
- 12 oz blackberries
- 2 T turbinado sugar
- 1½ c cake mix*, divided ((click on the link in this recipe card for my favorite bulk cake mix recipe))
- 6 T salted butter, chilled
- 2 T heavy cream
- 1 c heavy cream
- 2 eggs
- ¾ c sugar
- 2 t vanilla
- ½ t ground cinnamon
- ¾ T cake mix
- Preheat oven to 375° and prepare a 10" x 6" glass baking dish**. In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 c of cake mix, butter and 2 T of heavy cream by cutting the butter in with a pastry knife or fork. Once the dough is formed, press it into the bottom of the baking dish.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining ½ c of cake mix over the crust and top with blackberries and turbinado sugar.
- In the same mixing bowl ((don't bother to clean between steps)), whisk together custard filling ingredients and pour over the blackberries.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is medium golden brown and the outer edges are set while the center jiggles when the dish is moved.
- * if you prefer, a boxed white or yellow cake mix can be substituted for the homemade bulk cake mix.
- ** I used my favorite vintage glass baking dish for this recipe, it measures 10" x 6¼" x 3". A 9" x 7" x 2" OR a 9" round will also work, but baking times may need to be adjusted slightly, so keep a close eye during the last 5 minutes of baking.
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