At the farmers’ market yesterday, the folks at Hole in the Woods Farm shared a black raspberry cobbler recipe with me, even though I bought potatoes. (We have our own supply of wild black raspberries.) I baked a half recipe on Sunday (we only had 3 cups of black raspberries left), but of course I made a few changes. I left the filling alone, but for the topping, I used ½ Cup AP flour and ½ Cup whole wheat pastry flour rather than all AP. Instead of using 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder, I used 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/8 tsp. baking soda, as the recipe uses buttermilk, and I wanted to offset its acidity. The original recipe is baked in a cast iron skillet, but I don’t have one available right now, so I used a 9-inch Emile Henry deep pie dish. I brought the topping together into a ball, then flattened it into a circle 5-1/2 inches in diameter. I cut it into 8 wedges. I arranged those over the topping. As I was baking just a half batch, I baked for 30 minutes, until the topping was lightly browned. It is good, but I think the filling did not have as nice of a flavor as my jam. Maybe I should use something other than cornstarch as the thickener?

Here's the filling ingredients for the half recipe:

1/4 Cup + 2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 Cup + 2 Tbs hot water (3 oz.)
3 Cups black raspberries
1/2 Tbs. butter

Mike--The recipe called for combining hot water with the cornstarch and sugar and stirring until it thickened. The berries were then added, but the recipe said to cook only until the berries are hot and not to boil them.

I will add maybe 1/2 tsp. of lemon juice next time I make the recipe (next year when the black raspberries return). I wonder what people who are trying to cook local, in an area where citrus is not local, and trying to cook in season, would do.

We have been so busy, trying to get through my Father's house since he passed away recently. I have not had time for much else. Thing's are finally coming together, and we should be ready to sell the farm shortly. He was a very, very good farmer, and was so progressive that he had almost every thing new and innovative that you could imagine. We will not have to have a realtor involved, because there are so many buyers interested, that it will just be a matter of setting the price and doing the final sale. When he passed away, the farm automatically was deeded to all 7 of us children individually, there by avoiding probate and inheritance taxes.

Any way, I did find time to make this coconut inspired cake, which is really delicious. My DH loves coconut. I believe I got the recipe of pinterest. I highly recommend it. Of course any thing that calls for sour cream, cream cheese and butter always catches my eye.

I do not normally use cake mixes, but made an exception for this recipe, and I'm glad I did.

Coconut Cake

1 white cake mix with pudding in the mix.
4 T. melted butter
3 lg. eggs
1 Cup sour cream
1 t. coconut extract

Blend above ingredients until smooth and creamy

Fold in 1 Cup coconut

Put in 9X13 prepared pan and bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Allow cake to cool completely and frost with the following

3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 8 oz Cream cheese
1 t. coconut extract
2 - 3 Table spoons milk

Mix above well, frost cake and sprinkle 1 cup of coconut over frosting.

Enjoy!!!

I did cook it over the burner before adding the berries, but maybe I did not cook it enough. I'll make a note to check the temperature next time. I might try the red wine vinegar.

I had raised a question about blueberries and terpenes in a discussion post. Maybe all berries lose something when heated and need to be revitalized for better flavor.

Note: The Black Raspberry Cobbler had much more flavor after I had refrigerated it. We finished it up last night with some vanilla ice cream on the side. I would use a different cobbler topping next time.

We picked blueberries yesterday. On Thursday morning, my weekly email from Smitten Kitchen arrived with berry recipes. I took that as a sign that I should bake her Blueberry Crumb Cake, which she adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts. I had two changes. I wanted to include some wholegrain, so I used 1 Cup AP flour, then added whole wheat pastry flour to make up the 240grams weight. I also did not have whole milk, so I used 1% with a smidge of heavy cream. I used the minimum weight of blueberries, since the ones I have are large. The cake baked well. I used THE grease on the pan and parchment at the bottom, and I was able to turn it out after 20 minutes with no problem, remove the parchment, then turn it right-side up onto another plate. It has some sinking in the center, although it tested done at 40 minutes. That sinking actually like a “crease” that is about 2 inches long and off center. I'll add a note this evening about taste and texture after we cut into it for dessert tonight.

Here is the recipe link:

Promised Note: The cake is delicious, and it was cooked through, even though in has that off-center dip in the cake. I'm wondering if it needed a slightly larger pan.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: corrected baking time
• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

I just baked my favorite Cold Oven Pound Cake,can't wait to cut it.