Most cakes I can take or leave, but I never regret a slice of almond cake. The density! The chewy crumb! The way it romances butter and other flavours! The ultimate almond cake, in the Sodha house, at least, is Claudia Roden’s orange and almond cake, which is made religiously for special occasions (of which there are many from December to March), but I wanted a more seasonal cake for a good friend’s August birthday. Blackberries are perfect (not least because we’re drowning in them right now), because they provide an excellent, zippy contrast to the almond’s velvety nature.

Blackberry and almond cake

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 15 min, plus cooling
Serves 8-10

180g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
180g caster sugar
150g ground almonds
80g plain flour
1 lemon, zest finely grated to get 1 tbsp
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
500g blackberries, washed
3 large eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
200g icing sugar

Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5, and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

Put the sugar, almonds, flour, lemon zest, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Sprinkle in 300g of the blackberries and stir to coat them in the dry ingredients. In a second bowl, mix the eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract, then pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and gently fold in until you have a smooth batter.

Pour this into the lined tin, then bake for 45-55 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove and leave to cool in the tin.

While the cake is cooling, mash 150g of the remaining blackberries in a small bowl, then push them through a small sieve (or tea strainer) to extract the juice (eat or discard the pulp and seeds). Put the icing sugar in a small bowl, add three tablespoons of the blackberry juice, mix well until smooth, then mix in up to another tablespoon of blackberry juice, until the glaze is the thickness of double cream.

Once the cake is cool, remove it from the tin and put on a plate. Slowly pour over the icing, then gently press in the remaining 50g blackberries to decorate. The cake will keep in the fridge for up to three days.