because blackberries are a summer essential

Though we haven't had much of a summer this year, we at least got out one afternoon to pick blackberries. The haul wasn't good - the brambles were mostly picked over, and what few berries remained were small. We managed to net about 2.5 - 3 cups. What to do with too few berries for a pie or jam?

Coffeecake!

I used this recipe as a model for my own. I used all the fruit we had (so, more than twice the amount called for in the original recipe), cut the crumb topping, added vanilla, and stirred the fruit into the batter instead of placing it on top of the cake. I had to cook it more than twice the original length of time, but the result was a dense fruity cake (really, you could hardly tell there was any cake) that stayed moist over days without even being wrapped. Here's my version below:

Blackberry Coffeecake
1/4 c. canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. nonfat milk
2 tsp Mexican vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 heaping tsp. baking powder
dash salt

2 1/2 - 3 c. fresh blackberries, picked over, rinsed and drained.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9" square pan with sides at least 2" high. I used a 9" diameter springform pan with high sides.

Mix wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until a smooth batter forms.

Add berries to batter and gently fold in, using a wooden spoon, until berries are evening distributed throughout batter.

Pour into prepared pan, and bake about 60-70 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean (or with moist crumbs rather than wet batter attached).