Blackberry Swirl Loaf

I really love making things that are beautiful AND taste good. I’m not good with fiddly detail, though. Which is why my food tends to taste better than it looks (promise!). And I’m not great at the aul photo-taking either, the lack of natural  light really makes a difference – I’m not a food blogger who can bake during the day and then artfully lay everything out on the table with a smear of flour and a crisp white napkin and an oversized vintage spoon. You’ll have to take my word for it. Or just come around to mine for a try of it.

Having disparaged my decoration skillz, I will admit to one thing - I’m pretty good at swirling.

So, I am flexing my swirling skills with the next recipe. It’s a light, sweet, fruity, pretty little loaf which would be perfect for a post-lunch snack or eaten with a cuppa after dinner. I’m really pleasantly surprised by how delicious it looks and tastes. I think you could also substitute in raspberries (or do half raspberries, half blackberries!) and that would also make a delicious loaf.

Ingredients

• 125g blackberries
• 125g caster sugar
• 150ml yogurt
• 6 tbsp oil
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 tsp vanilla sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 2 tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

Easy peasy – get the food processor out and pour in the blackberries. Add 50g of caster sugar and puree together until smooth.

In a bowl, add the yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla and remaining sugar to a bowl and whisk.

Sieve over the flour, almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt and fold in gently.

Pour ¾ of the mixture into a prepared loaf tin. Dot over half of the puree, then add the rest of the loaf mixture and the rest of the puree. Stick a chopstick in and start swirling the two mixtures together.

Bake for 55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Check after 35 minutes, if browning too quickly, cover in tinfoil for the duration of the cooking.

Remove from the oven, let cool in the tin.

Slice and serve!