For the Dense, moist, buttery almond cake with whole blackberries, topped with blackberry jam, blackberry whipped cream and meringue – Blackberry Almond Meringue Cake is a show stopper dessert that’s worth the effort. Save time and make the sheet cake version or impress your family with the layer cake. Both are absolutely amazing.

A few weeks ago a friend invited me to a soiree. A professional violist wanted to perform in an informal setting so my friend offered her house. In addition to the violist, other friends played piano and guitar pieces.

Her invitation was last minute. She called me on Saturday morning and the event was that evening. I’m always called on to make desserts so I volunteered even with the short time frame.

I found the original recipe for this blackberry almond meringue cake on BBC food. The BBC recipe made a beautiful layer cake but the comments indicated some things needed to change. Back in December I made the layer cake version for colleagues who were leaving. The flavor was truly amazing.

The light as air meringue on top is a perfect contrast for the heavy cake but the whipped cream filling isn’t sturdy enough to hold the top layer of the cake up. So it oozed out the sides. I had to clean the plate up before serving it to my colleagues and it was messy to eat.

For the soiree, I decided to make a sheet cake version with small meringues instead of one big one for the topping. I thought each slice could have it’s own little meringue. You could save time by just topping with store bought meringues but those are full of sugar. I reduced the sugar in mine because the rest of the cake is sweet.

Ok, the sheet cake isn’t much to look at in the pan. Although it isn’t as elegant as the layer cake version, everyone LOVED it. Since the soiree, I’ve bumped into a few of the guests at other events. They may not remember my name but they remember that cake!

The blackberry almond cake is good enough to be served plain. Dust it with some powdered sugar and you’ve got an amazing coffee cake. The rest of the layers just make it more special.

Blackberry Almond Meringue Cake

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Ingredients

Blackberry Almond Cake

• 1 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons almond meal (ground almonds)
• 3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 cup blackberries

Meringue topping

• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar
• dash cream of tartar

Blackberry whipped cream

• 300 mL heavy whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons blackberry jelly
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (optional)
• Additionally, you need
• 1/4 cup blackberry jam for sheet cake, 1/2 cup blackberry jam for layer cake

Instructions

Cake

1. For sheet cake, butter the inside of a 9" x 13" pan. For layer cake, butter the bottom and sides of two 9" round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients except the blackberries and mix until just combined. If you over mix, you'll get tunnels in your cake so I did this by hand.
4. Fold in blackberries.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Use a spatula to spread evenly in the pan and smooth out the top.
6. Bake in a 325°F oven for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. For layer cake, remove from cake pans and let cool on wire racks. The cakes should be completely cool before topping.

Meringues

1. Beat egg whites until frothy and then add a pinch of cream of tartar.
2. Continue beating until soft peaks form.
3. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
4. For the layer cake. Use a pencil or permanent marker to trace the cake pan onto parchment paper. Turn the paper over and place on a baking sheet. Fill the circle with the meringue.
5. For the sheet cake, drop meringue by spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake at 325°F for 1 hour to 90 minutes. Meringues should be dried out.

Blackberry whipped cream

1. It is very important to have everything as cold as possible when making homemade whipped cream. I put my bowl and beaters in the freezer for 30 minutes beforehand.
2. Put all the ingredients in a chilled bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Chill until the cake is ready to assemble.

Assembly

1. For the layer cake, put the first layer on your serving dish. Spread half of the blackberry jam on top of the cake and then top with whipped cream. Top with the second cake layer and then spread remaining blackberry jam on top. Place the meringue on top of the cake. Serve immediately.
2. For the sheet cake, spread blackberry jam on top of the cake. Top with whipped cream and meringues.

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