cherries, blackberries & goat cheese

we love all the fresh sweet fruit that comes along with the summer months ahead and really love baking with it. i rarely bake with cherries though - even with the best intentions, i end up eating the whole bowl before they make it into anything as an ingredient! amazingly we had some leftover cherries from farmer's market earlier this week and i was just thinking of what to make when the July issue of martha stewart living arrived in the mailbox. perfect timing! since i can't ever follow a recipe, i changed things up a bit - added blackberries, crumbled goat cheese between the layers and substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose. the outcome is delicious and we've already put quite a dent in the cake since it came out of the oven. a word to the wise - buy a cherry pitter! it will make life, or at least baking with cherries, so much easier. and put an apron on because that cherry juice goes everywhere!

Cherry Blackberry Crumb Cake

(adapted from July 2009 Martha Stewart Living)

For the topping

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

4 tbs unsalted butter, cold & cut into small chunks

For the cake

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cup mixed cherries and blackberries, pitted & cut in half

4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. grease a 9-inch square baking dish. make the topping by combining flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. work in butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until it resembles a coarse meal and set aside. to make the cake, combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. beat in eggs and vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl. working in batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. beat until combined and pour into prepared pan. spread out evenly with a spatula. cover cake with cherries and blackberries and then evenly distribute crumbled goat cheese. sprinkle with crumb topping and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. let cool before cutting.