Mamuq: Berry delicious harvest pie

We returned from Igaliqtuq just in time for berry season. I went berry-picking a few days after getting home and was very excited when I came across some cranberries. I hadn’t expected to find them so close by. After three hours, my fingertips were blue from the berries and numbed by the cold.

The recipe this week is one that my mother often made with different seasonal fruits she picked and froze. It was always such a treat to have a raspberry cake in the middle of January made from berries we had picked the previous summer.

Baffin berry upside down cake

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups berries (I used 1 cup blueberries and 1/4 cup cranberries)

3 1/2 tbsp margarine or shortening
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg

1/2 cup of milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups all purpose white flour a pinch of salt

Directions:

In a glass or ceramic pie plate, melt the butter and then add the brown sugar. Mix and spread evenly over the bottom of the dish. Pour the berries over mixture and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream together the margarine and white sugar and beat by hand until fluffy. Add the egg and beat it into the creamed mixture. Add the milk and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 F °.

In another bowl, measure in the flour, baking powder and salt and combine well. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir until all ingredients are well combined and the batter is smooth.

Spoon the batter onto the fruit and spread evenly using a fork or a rubber spatula. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake is nicely golden on top.

I’ve made this cake many times and sometimes I serve it from the pie plate without turning it upside down. If you want to flip it, use oven mitts or a dish cloth and place a serving platter on top of the pie plate. Holding the two tightly together, carefully turn them over so that the cake falls onto the platter with the fruit side up. All the juices from the berries will be absorbed into the cake. It is best served warm with vanilla ice cream.