blackberry & almond cakes

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Donna Hay rocks. Her recipes are so uncomplicated! And yet they taste so so good.

This little dessert is no exception. The caramel sauce makes for quite a sweet dessert, but it pairs very well with the slightly crunchy almond cakes and juicy berries. A winner for sure, and a most excellent finale to a great evening with friends.

blackberry & almond upside-down cakes

From Donna Hay's The Instant Cook

makes 6

6 1/3 Tbs* unsalted butter

1 1/4 C brown sugar

3 Tbs water

2 C defrosted or frozen blackberries

cake

5 1/4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

1/2 C superfine sugar (caster sugar)

2 eggs

1 C almond meal**

1 C all-purpose flour

1 teas baking powder

1/3 C milk

*I've converted some of the measurements from metric, so some of the amounts look a little funny.

** To make almond meal, you can process whole skinned nuts to a fine meal in a food processor. I processed skinned almond slices until a course meal for a crunchier cake.

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Butter a 6 x 1-cup-capacity muffin tin; set aside.

Place butter, sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring, until the butter dissolves to make a caramel syrup. Add blackberries and cook for another 2 minutes. Divide berries among prepared muffin tins. Add a couple of spoonfuls of syrup to each, reserving the rest of the syrup for serving.

For the cake, mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, almond meal, flour, baking powder and milk. Spoon the cake mixture over the berries in the muffin tins. Bake for 30-40 mins, or until tester comes out clean. Cool in tins for 5 minutes, and then invert onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place on serving plates; top with fallen berries, some reserved syrup, and vanilla ice.