We’ve loved every minute of our local adventures, but like a lot of you have been pining our usual summer vacation to warmer climates. We began reminiscing over our past holidays, and ended up dreaming about the wonders of Puglia – enter our genius idea of reframing our usual perception of a holiday and putting together a plan to bring Puglia to us.
Beginning in style with an epic Italian style breakfast, something we became accustomed to last year thanks to the beautiful people of Masseria Salamina. These guys do breakfast properly, lots of freshly picked fruit and veg for their kitchen garden, nuts and seeds, local cheese and meats from neighbouring farms, freshly baked breads and an amazing selection of handmade breakfast cakes to devour – each made from a diverse variety of organic local grains, some gluten free, vegan options meaning I too could join in the fun too.
I’ve never really understood why I would want to eat cake before afternoon tea, but trying the makes at the Masseria changed that, I’m a full convert! Made with a variety of grains and using very little sugar, it’s a delicious accompaniment to a cup of espresso.
For our Italian affair at home, we plumped on a delicious foraged late summer berry spelt crumble cake (I’m sure it sounds so much more delicioso in Italian but seeing as I don’t speak the lingo I couldn’t tell you how the English translates!), topped with handfuls of gloriously ripe blackberries and elderberries. It was delicious, a real late summer breakfast treat!
Whilst spelt isn’t strictly fodmap friendly, I’ve found I can tolerate it, so it made for a nice, deliciously nutty change. Very Puglia!
We won’t be dining out like this for breakfast everyday, but whilst the hedges are bursting full of ripe berries and we’re in holiday mode, cake is still very much on our breakfast table!
Blackberry & Elderberry Breakfast Cake
Vegan, Refined Sugar Free
Ingredients
- 85g Coconut Sugar
- 250g Spelt Flour
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tbsp Ground Flaxseed, mixed with 3 tbsp water and left to soak for 15 mins
- 125ml Oat Milk
- 100g Vegan Butter, softened
- 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- Large Handful of Blackberries and Elderberries
- 50g Spelt Flour
- 40g Vegan Butter, cold
- 1 tbsp Coconut Sugar
Instructions
For the Base
- Grease and line a 20cm tin and preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
- In a mixer, beat the softened butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the flour and baking powder and stir together until incorprated.
- Add the flaxseed egg mixture, vanilla extract, oat milk, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon and stir together.
- Pour the dough in to your lined tin and tap gently to remove air bubbles and smooth out.
For the Crumble Topping
- Combine the additional flour, cold butter and coconut sugar in a bowl and quickly use the tips of your fingers to combine and create a crumble mix. The heat from your hands will quickly melt the butter, so the quicker you work the crumble mix, the better the result.
- Scatter the blackberries and elderberries on top of the cake, followed by the crumble mix.
- Place in your preheated oven for 40 mins, using a scewer to test if the cake is fully cooked before removing.
- Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve a generous slice with a spoonful of coconut yogurt and fresh blackberries.
Notes
Elderberries are the perfect immune boosting berry, bursting full of vitamins and antioxidents. Often taken as a supplement throughout the winter months, Elderberries have been found to improve cold and flut symptoms.
Whilst spelt isn't strictly a FODMAP friendly grain, increasing the amount of plant based diversity in to our diets keeps our gut microbiome happy. If you can tollerate it, it's a delicious nutty grain that works really well this cake. I'm yet to test using buckwheat flour.