Summer has indeed sprung and its generosity has left our prickly invasive blackberries heavy with fruit, thus turning a foe into a temporary friend. It’s left me flush with berries up the wazoo, hence this very tasty and simple blackberry and almond loaf cake. It’s the kind you can just make in one bowl and have it in the oven within 15 minutes, which is the best for cake cravings when you don’t want to wait for the butter to soften or the eggs to come to room temperature. Olive oil for the win!
I am also celebrating with this little cake—I am writing a new book! Yes, 7 years after First We Eat was released into the world, I am diving back in to the joy of creating a text of my own. Modern Homestead: A 21st Century Guide to Finding Your Wild will be out in 2027, and a huge thanks to my editor Dervla Kelly at Rodale and my agent Stacey Glick for believing in me + helping bring this work to light. The book will be filled with recipes, crafts, and seasonal activities to help you slow down, be present, create more, consume less, and reconnect with the profound joy & satisfaction that comes from making things with your own two hands. I’ll also share about the process of finding land and building our home, for anyone who dreams of doing something similar someday.
I’ve been feeling pulled to write this book for quite some time. There is something so earth-shatteringly satisfying about making something yourself, whether it’s growing a pot of mint on your balcony or fermenting your own funky hot sauce. And I feel that in the increasing pace of the digital world, humanity is losing touch with the simple joys of working with your hands to forge something of your very own. Cooking, gardening, crafting—these are all things humans have done for thousands of years. They’re written into our DNA to soothe and inspire us. So I hope that the book brings joy to many people and helps folks reconnect with themselves and the natural world around them.
As for this cake, its a simple one that I adapted from Aran Goyaga’s Bakes Simple cookbook, and it really lets the seasonal blackberries shine. (There are two kinds of blackberries at the homestead, the native Oregon Blackberry, which creeps along the ground had has small supremely sweet berries in June, and the Himalayan Blackberry, which vines up trees aggressively, choking them out, and bears large fruit in late July into August. We have been at war these past months trying to cut back the Himalayan blackberry before it takes over and shades out the native plant life, but at least our nemesis is giving us some very tasty seasonal treats to nurse our wounds with in the meantime.) Because the cake has olive oil and yogurt in it, it tends to brown rather quickly, so I recommend tenting it with foil at around the 25 minute mark to keep it from getting too brown around the edges. It’s incredibly moist, easy to make, and absolutely delicious. I hope you enjoy it and all the fruits of this sweet season, dear reader!