Blackberry Cornmeal Cake

OK, it sounds weird, but it's really good.

Blackberry Cornmeal Cake

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar, and ¼ cup for sprinkling
½ cup buttermilk*
2 eggs
½ cup butter (one stick) divided
12 ounces fresh blackberries

Heat oven to 375.

Melt 7 Tablespoons butter. (There's 8 in a stick, so just cut one off.)

n a large bowl, mix together the flour, corn meal, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup sugar.

In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then stir in buttermilk and melted butter.

Add this to the dry ingredients, and mix well. (You don't have to beat it as much as you would a regular cake.)

Put the other Tablespoon of butter in a 10" cast iron skillet, place in the oven for 5 minutes until butter is melted and skillet is hot. Remove from oven and swirl the butter to coat the bottom.



Toss the blackberries with 1-2 Tablespoons of flour.

Pour batter into skillet. Scatter blackberries over the surface, then sprinkle with the 1/4 cup sugar,

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until top is evenly browned. Let cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature (warm in my kitchen).

I don't see any reason you couldn't bake this in a cake pan, but the skillet was full when it puffed up, so a 9 inch pan might not work. The directions said to put a cookie sheet on the rack below to catch drips, but I didn't see any.



Store loosely covered...if you put it in an airtight container, it gets soggy.

* You can add 1.5 tsp vinegar to 1/2 cup milk instead.

This thing is HUGE!   So, I experimented and cut it down to a reasonable size.

I cut the recipe in half and baked it in an 8 inch pan for 30 minutes. I also made sure the berries were dry, and didn't mix the batter up as much and the berries didn't sink all the way to the bottom.

This makes 6 smaller servings.
Blackberry Cornmeal Cake

½ Cup + 2 Tbls all purpose flour
¼ cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup sugar, plus 2 Tbls for sprinkling
¼ cup low fat buttermilk*
1 egg
4 Tbls butter, melted + 1 Tbls for skillet
5-6 ounces blackberries

Mix together flour, corn meal, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar.

In another bowl, stir together buttermilk, egg, and melted butter. (pour the butter in slowly so you don't get scrambled eggs) Pour this over the flour mixture, stir to combine

In an 8" ovenproof skillet, place 1 Tbls butter and put into the oven for 3-5 minutes to melt the butter and get the skillet hot.  (or set it on the burner over medium heat, it gets plenty hot.)

Put the berries in a baggie with 1 Tablespoon flour and shake it up.

Pour batter into skillet, sprinkle berries over the top. Sprinkle the 2 Tbls sugar over the batter.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes.

*I never have buttermilk on hand, I use ¼ cup milk with a splash of white vinegar.   (the usual ratio is 1 Tbls. per cup of milk. )