lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce

As you may have guessed from the preview that I posted an inexcusable amount of days months ago, another crop to add to my considerable backyard bounty is was my extremely productive blackberry bush. Blackberry plants don't typically produce fruit in the first year they're planted, so last year, I dutifully put up a lovely wooden trellis for the plant to eventually wind through. Of course, I showered the thorny plant with love and water, completely confident that I would be the beneficiary of the "fruits" of my labor. That's just the kind of attitude you learn to adopt whilst living in California. "If you plant it, it will grow!" should be the mantra hanging over the signs at the plant nursery. In fact, one should be wary about frivolity and whimsical desires to lay out your own plots of corn or to plant a banana tree-if you're not sure you want a giant tree or a field of grain in your backyard, think twice!

Besides my main ambition to douse my freshly picked blackberries in cream, with the tiniest sprinkle of sugar on top, I had my eye on a few recipes that sounded particularly delectable. It should not be at all surprising that the ever-reliable, delightful Deb of Smitten Kitchen would have a tempting blackberry recipe up her sleeve. When I saw her April (yes, it's been THAT long since I've seen the recipe, I shan't confess when I actually made it myself!) posting about lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce, I knew I must make it themomentmyblackberriescametofruition. I've made a citrus-tinted yogurt cake several times by now, though my favorite is the Molly Wizenburg version. I think it's going to be my answer to my mom's pound cake, which has always been her go-to dessert. Deb's yogurt cake follows an extremely similar formula, but has the added bonus of the too-die-for blackberry sauce.

The cake (and the lemon version linked above) couldn't be simpler, and the end result is light, almost spongy, without feeling too dense. It stands up well to a healthy pouring drizzle of sauce, and the delicate lime flavor mixed with tart, barely sweet blackberries is a positively divine combination. You could easily use the blackberry sauce, as Deb suggests, swirled into ice cream or yogurt. My beloved Trader Joe's has recently been selling a lowfat vanilla Greek yogurt, and it proved to be magical when spruced up with the sauce.

Now, I realize it's been close to three months since I made this extremely seasonal recipe, but I could not help but pass it along. If you're like me, looking longingly at a sad mess of vines shorn of their fruit, you might want to sneak into the freezer section for a bag of frozen blackberries, run right home, and make this cake, imagining that it's summer again.

*recipe is linked above. You have been forewarned about my lack of photography skills compared with Deb's!