Berry and almond cakes – super quick and easy to make cupcakes, delicious and perfect partner to your afternoon tea. An all-in, food processor recipe.

Berry and almond cakes

*disclaimer – these days I wouldn’t treat that sort of sickness in any way like I did back then. I have come a long way. For more info, follow me on Instagram.

If there is one thing I learned the first time my eldest was sick it is that a Mother’s Instinct is something pretty strong.

The home doctor we called in the middle of the night after he had been screaming for pretty much 5 hours straight didn’t think it was anything abnormal.

She said he had an ear infection, wrote a script for antibiotics and ran out the door.

I’m no doctor but I knew it wasn’t an ear infection and I knew that screaming in the night was not normal for our baby.

An ENT specialist confirmed it wasn’t an ear infection and there was no need for antibiotics but then as the week went on he got worse and worse and broke out in blisters all through his mouth that were so painful he couldn’t eat or drink.

After a bit of a debacle (ie Emergency sending us home when they shouldn’t have and I shouldn’t have let them!) he ended up in hospital with a tube down his nose to get some fluids in after losing nearly 2kg in less than a week.

By Monday he was a little brighter but still refused to even sip water and that instinct of mine knew there had to be something more wrong with him.

We finally got our paediatrician in (he wasn’t on call over the weekend) who did a proper examination and discovered a very swollen throat.

A hard-core dose of steroids and we were sent home where he has been getting better every day since and is just about back to his happy, healthy little self.

Trust your Mum instinct if you think a professional might be wrong speak up (or just get a second opinion). They’re all human just like us.

I also learned that we have a very very brave little man.

Not only was he in hospital with a tube down his nose, as he had a contagious virus the poor kid was confined to his room and couldn’t even go to the playroom down the hall.

Yet he still made his own fun when he was feeling up to it be it waving down to the people on the street, playing hide-and-seek under his blanket, ‘reading’ Grandma’s paper or charming the nurses – he made his Mummy and Daddy very proud.

We’re all finally starting to get our energy back and while I haven’t gotten around to baking, I did make these delicious berry almond cakes before Ollie got sick which I’m going to insist that you make as soon as possible.

I had a friend coming to afternoon tea, had an over-supply of almond meal and a craving for berries.

I kept going back and forth between a raspberry-almond bakewell cake or friands and no matter how hard each of them argued neither one won.

So I split the difference and baked a cake in my silicone muffin tin so it was kind of like raspberry friands.

This recipe is super easy because you just throw everything in the food processor.

Seriously – it’s basically fool-proof.

I put 15 minutes in the prep time but that’s seriously generous.

I think in 15 minutes you could get out all the ingredients, make the batter, get it in the oven and have everything cleaned up.

It’s ridiculously delicious because almonds and berries are a match made in heaven but the downside is they’re really hard to resist.

I ate one as soon as I snapped the lense cap on my camera after the shoot then quickly packed them up to take to my friend’s house (where yes I ate more – don’t judge me) and made sure I left her some when I left.

The rest didn’t last long let me tell you.

I think they were best warmed a little and would also make a pretty delicious dessert with a little bit of cream.

Oh and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Well now I’m just going to have to make them again so I can try the dessert version.

They freeze well too – just wrap individually in plastic wrap.

You don’t have to use mixed berries.

The original recipe used fresh raspberries but they’re a bit expensive here so I used frozen. Feel free to use whatever you have available. Enjoy!

What about you? What have you learned in the last week?

Berry and almond cakes

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Print

Ingredients

• 250g (9oz) mixed berries (I used frozen)
• 140g (5oz) ground almonds (almond meal)
• 140g (5oz) butter, softened
• 140g (5oz) raw sugar
• 140g (5oz) wholemeal (wholewheat) self-raising flour
• 2 free-range eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds
• icing sugar, to serve

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C(320F) fan-forced and grease a 12 hole muffin tin. I used a silicone pan and didn’t need to grease it.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, give the berries a quick whiz to chop them up then scrape them out and set aside.
3. In the same food processor (no need to clean the bowl), blitz the almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla until well combined (scrape down the sides a couple of times to make sure there are no dry ingredients stuck.
4. Add the berries back in and give it a quick whiz just until they are marbled through the batter.
5. Divide the batter between the muffin holes.
6. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of one comes out clean.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and then dust with icing sugar before serving.

---

Connect with Claire K Creations! 

Be sure to follow me on my social media, so you never miss a post!

Facebook | Pinterest | instagram

Be sure to follow me on Instagram and tag @clairekcreations so I can see all the wonderful Claire K Creations recipes and creations YOU make!

I created a fun little group on facebook and I’d love for you to join in! It’s a place where you can share YOUR favorite recipes, tips, tricks and tools for making life simpler, more natural and more connected and see what’s new around here (so that you never miss a new recipe, tip or trick)!

If you’d like to check it out, you can request to join HERE.

---