A Blackberry Bramble is such a refreshing summer drink. It’s made with blackberries, lemon and gin and is light, refreshing, fruity and delicious. And given the surplus of blackberries I currently had from the farmer’s market, I thought why not bake this into a delicious summer take on a rum cake, a blackberry bramble cake.
As a base I used Sweet Pea’s Kitchen‘s rum cake recipe and got rid of the rum, instead using gin, adding lemon zest, lemon juice and mashed blackberries, then folding in chopped blackberries and changing the rum syrup to a blackberry bramble syrup to soak.
What you end up with is a lovely fruity cake, with that kind of lightness you get from gin. The gin definitely comes through and I had a couple people tell me “this is the only way I like gin”. It’s certainly not overpowering, the balance is great.
I will warn you though, this blackberry bramble cake does weigh about 100 pounds. Clearly hyperbole but it’s a heavy heavy cake. And for my cake I maaay have forgotten to toss the berries in flour so they sunk, your berries will be more evenly distributed if you follow my actual directions.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- Zest of 2 lemons
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup blackberries - mashed (measured whole then mashed)
- 1/2 cup gin
- 1 (3.4 oz) package of instant vanilla pudding
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups blackberries, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup blackberries (measured whole then mashed - and strained through a fine mesh strainer if desired)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup gin
- Juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325F and grease a bundt pan, lightly coating it with flour
- Mix together the butter sugar and oil until creamy, then stir in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice and mashed blackberries. Combine well. Stir in the gin, the instant vanilla pudding, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the flour and stir until just combined, then toss blackberries in 1tbsp of flour and add them to the batter - folding them in.
- Pour batter into your greased bundt pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.
- With 10 minutes left, prepare the sauce. In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the mashed blackberries and sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute while constantly stirring. Take off heat and stir in the gin and lemon juice.
- When the cake is done, allow it to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove, using a toothpick to poke holes all over. Place 2/3 of the sauce in the bottom of the bundt pan and return the cake to the pan. Poke more holes over the bottom and pour the remaining sauce over the bottom. Allow to cool in pan - or for at least an hour.
- Store for up to 5 days, covered
Helpful equipment:
