Blackberry and Thyme Buttermilk Cake

Recently I found a recipe for Blackberry Thyme Clafoutis by Tim Love in InStyle magazine (who knew they had recipes) that caught my eye.  The combination of blackberry and thyme sounded intriguing, plus the dessert is baked in on of my absolute favorite things - my cast-iron skillet.  So I started to make it and then realized that we didn't have any whole milk.  And the clafoutis is something of a custardy or puddingy cake, and I wasn't sure how we would feel about that as a leftover.  So instead of making the clafoutis like I had intended, I decided to take Tim Love's flavors (namely the combination of the blackberries and thyme, served with vanilla ice cream) and instead modify the Raspberry Buttermilk Cake recipe I love so much to use those ingredients.  For those of you who have whole milk or are making dessert for a blackberry-loving dinner party, I am also including the recipe for the Blackberry-Thyme Clafoutis that first caught my eye.

I love this cake.  Alex was slightly less of a fan, but I loved the faint hint of thyme flavor combined with the lightly sweet, very moist cake.  I will agree with him that the blackberries weren't very sweet, which made some bites very tart, but I thought that combined with the vanilla ice cream it was perfectly lovely.

Recipe after the jump!

Cranachan

Recently I visited a Scottish restaurant called Highlands in the West Village with a friend.  We had a really great meal, starting with the lamb roll appetizer and ending with a dessert called cranachan.  I had no idea what cranachan was until the waitress explained that it is basically whipped cream with fresh berries.  What she didn't explain was that in the whipped cream was toasted oats, honey and whiskey.  I didn't know about the honey and whiskey for sure until I came home and Googled the dessert to find out exactly what traditionally goes in it.  All I knew was that there were definitely three things: (1)toasted oats, (2) only slightly sweetened whipped cream, and (3) berries.  At Highlands they had blackberries and raspberries in the dessert, but according to my Google searches, traditionally the dessert only includes raspberries.  Seeing as I'm not even the slightest bit Scottish, I feel like I can take some artistic license and include whatever berries I so choose.  In this case, I am including strawberries (because who doesn't love strawberries with fresh whipped cream), raspberries, and blackberries.

I love the cranachan because it is a nice variation on simple whipped cream and berries.  The toasted oats provide a wonderful textural contrast to the soft pillows of Scotch-spiked whipped cream, and the ripe berries.  I also tossed the oats in a hint of honey so that they added just a touch more sweetness.  It was a perfect dessert for warm summer weather when you want something sweet, but don't want anything too heavy or rich.  Two thumbs up for my first ever Scottish "dish."

Recipe after the jump!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Cardamom and Nutmeg

Crisps and crumbles always make me nervous.  You just never know when the filling is going to be soupy and overly sweet.  So I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to adding sugar to any dessert with a fruit filling.  It doesn't help that Alex is terribly afraid of sweet fruit fillings.  I also feel like so long as I don't make the crisp too sweet that I can eat it for breakfast with a healthy dollop of Greek yogurt and a squeeze of honey, or I can eat it for dessert with whipped cream or a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

I love rhubarb - both aesthetically/visually and taste-wise.  Whenever I see it at the farmer's market I have to buy it.  This time I jumped the gun and purchased it at the grocery store, but it looked phenomenal.  I couldn't resist.  Last summer I made a rhubarb compote that we served with pork that was delicious, as well as a raspberry, strawberry and rhubarb crumble that was also very good.  I wanted to try something new, and since I generally prefer the sweet and crunchy topping of a crisp to the doughy topping of a crumble, I decided to make a crisp.  I got the idea to use cardamom and nutmeg in my crisp from this recipe from Bon Appetit, however I didn't like the proportions or the idea of baking multiple smaller crisps when I could just make one gigantic crisp.  Anyway, I liked this crisp, but I didn't love it.  My favorite part was the topping.  I loved the oats and the sliced almonds.

The orange flavor in the filling doesn't come through as much as I would like in the crisp, although if you really paid attention it was there.  The original recipe called for less zest and the addition of orange juice, but I didn't add the OJ since the last time I made a crumble with rhubarb I remember how wet the filling ended up.  I also didn't taste the cardamom and nutmeg quite as much as I thought I would, even though I doubled the amount of nutmeg in the filling.  I thought the spiciness of the nutmeg and the perfume of the cardamom would come through a little more.  Again, they were subtle, but there.  I thought about adding some ground black pepper, but you have to be very very careful when adding things like pepper to a dessert.  It helps if you're a pastry chef.  Before I make the crisp again I would make some minor changes (like adding more orange zest, nutmeg, cardamom and a little more sugar in the filling), but it has some serious potential.  Topped with ice cream or sweetened homemade whipped cream it makes a very nice dessert.  And with some Greek yogurt it makes a wonderful breakfast.  For breakfast I only warmed it in the microwave for 40 seconds and while lukewarm I found it easier to taste the spices than while piping hot and topped with whipped cream.  Go figure.

Recipe after the jump!