My Mixed Berry Buckle

Today was one of those days when the Sunshine state got a bit wet. The streets were wet. The cars were wet. My shoes were wet. I like the rain. It's soothing. It's dreamy. It smells amazing. It almost takes you to another world just by listening to it. (it also makes the weeds in my front yard grow like crazy. but i'm ignoring them) Great soundtrack for a day of study (or procrastination). And in queensland it's a rarity not having to worry about your SPF for one day.

So I was deciding between two recipes that both look delicious and doable (for a beginner baker like me). Sure, blueberry boy bait sounds more appealing. But blueberry buckle got so many good reviews and looks like a much "safer" recipe. So I went ahead and made my own version of the Blueberry Buckle. I've only got frozen mixed berries so that's what I've used. I've cut down the sugar by 2/3 'coz that other cake recipes from allrecipe.com that I have tried have been too sweet. I skipped the topping because of laziness. And also because I was a bit reluctant to add another 75g of butter into the recipe after watching that Heart Foundation ad this morning. After all I don't want to become one of those people who go on a statin at the age of 35. Instead I just put a few mixed berries on top of the batter and sprinkled a mixture of ground cinnamon and sugar on the top, which was suggested in the blueberry boy bait recipe.

(please forgive the amateur photography!)

Turns out that I should have pushed in the berries into the batter 'coz they came out of the oven BLACK. Well I didn't think about that then so just like that it stayed in the oven for 40 minutes. And this is, once again, a lesson for me to never to trust the recipe 100%. 40 minutes were apparently too long and it came out a bit burnt and not as moist as it could have been. Probably 30-35 minutes next time. And more cinnamon on the top!!

This is a buttery, rich, sweet cake with refreshing berries in every mouthful. Great for afternoon tea or anytime you feel like a lift. Another recipe for my collection~

PS And I'm sorry I forgot the cookies Anna!! So here they are. Buttery chewy cookies with the perfect balance between Hershey's choc chip and dried cranberry.