I have been largely uninspired to turn the oven on much these days. The temperatures in New York are hovering in the high-80s to mid-90s lately, so it’s been pretty much ice cream or bust in our house.
BUT. It’s prime produce season. Have you been to your farmer’s market lately? Zucchini blossoms, the first of the amazing tomatoes, the corn! Everyone is showing up for that late-summer party.
Of course, you can use most of these items in a non-baking context, but then you’ve got the berries that are so deliciously sweet and ripe that you’ve almost GOT to bake with them. I made an exception to my oven-less rule this weekend to make these Blackberry Corn Cakes with fresh blackberries and corn. No regrets.
I like that this dessert plays on the line of sweet and savory. The cakes taste like savory cornbread with pops of fresh corn kernels, but not as dense. A honey syrup and homemade blackberry jam give it just enough sweetness. An unsweetened whipped cream laced with creme fraiche gives it all a pleasant tang. In short, this checks all the boxes for me.
I played with this recipe as a base, but modified it for the flavor profile I was looking for and shrunk it down into cupcake-sized cakes. Don’t underestimate the importance of buttering and polenta-ing the insides of your muffin tin. Most importantly, your cakes won’t stick. But also the crispy texture you’ll get on the exterior of your cake is just totally worth it.
Happy beautiful produce season!
Blackberry Corn Cakes
Makes 12-15 mini cakes
Ingredients
Blackberry jam (you can also use store bought… I won’t tell!)
1 pint blackberries (about 1 c.)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. granulated sugar
Cake
3/4 c. almond meal
1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. quick-cooking polenta, plus more for the pan
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
1/2 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. creme fraiche
1 stick butter, melted and cooled to room temp, plus extra for the pan
1 c. Corn kernels, preferably fresh cut from the cob (thawed from frozen will do, too!)
1 pint blackberries
Glaze
1/4 c. honey
2 Tbsp. water
Whipped cream
1 c. heavy cream
3 Tbsp. creme fraiche
Instructions
Make the jam
Place the blackberries into a small saucepan over medium heat. Mash the berries with a potato masher so that they start to release their juices and break down. Bring the berry juice to a simmer and add the lemon juice. Bring to a boil for one minute.
Add the sugar and mix well. Bring the mixture up to a boil once again and cook for about 4 minutes, keeping an eye on the temperature with a thermometer. The mixture should cook to about 220 degrees Fahrenheit. It should coat the back of a spoon and hold its shape when you run your finger through it (let it cool for a minute before you touch — ouch!).
Set jam aside to cool.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare a regular muffin tin by buttering each muffin mold and then coating the inside thoroughly with polenta.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, flour, polenta, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs and the sugar. Mix on medium-high speed with the whisk attachment until the volume has tripled, about 10 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and add the creme fraiche. Drizzle in the melted butter and mix until just incorporated.
Switch to the paddle attachment. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions. Do not over-mix!
Remove the bowl and fold in the corn with a spatula. Fill the bottom of each muffin mold with just enough batter to cover the bottom (about 1/3 full). Place a blackberry in the center of each muffin mold and then cover it with remaining batter — it’s a fun, jammy surprise when you cut into the cake!
Try to only fill the molds about 1/2 to 3/4 full so that you don’t end up with cupcakes (not that cupcakes are bad…).
Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes.
Make the glaze while cakes bake
In a small saucepan, combine the honey and water. Bring up to a boil for one minute and then remove from the heat and set aside until cakes are ready.
Back to the cakes…
After 30 minutes, test with a cake tester to ensure that they are baked all the way through. Remove cakes to a cooling rack with the crunchy bottom side up.
If you ended up with cupcakes, no worries! You can either keep them in cupcake form or use a serrated knife to gently slice the rounded top off of the cupcake so that you can invert it and it sits flat on the cooling rack.
While the cakes are still hot, use a pastry brush to brush the bottom of each with the honey syrup. Let the cakes cool.
Whip the cream and serve
Combine the heavy cream and creme fraiche in a bowl and whip with a whisk or an electric hand mixer until it holds soft peaks. I prefer not to add sugar to my whipped cream, but you can add a tablespoon or so if you desire.
To assemble the dessert, place a cake on a plate and top with a tablespoon of cooled blackberry jam. Finish with a healthy dose of the whipped cream and garnish with leftover blackberries.
Notes
If you don’t have access to peak sweet summer corn, opt for the frozen stuff — nobody likes bland, starchy kernels!
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