Delicious moist oaty coconut cake topped with blackberries and a coconut crumble, this blackberry and coconut tray bake is a brilliant recipe for lunchboxes, desserts or snacks.
I love berry season and there is nothing better than going out foraging for berries and coming home to bake something delicious with them. Like this blackberry and coconut tray bake for example!
The recipe for this comforting late summer/autumnal tray bake comes from the book, Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar, published by Nourish. I was delighted to receive a copy of this book as foraging is something I've wanted to do with my kids for a long time.
But first more about this delicious traybake cake. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew I wanted to try it. My children love coconut but can be a little bit picky about fresh fruit including berries in cakes. I hoped that the coconut as well as the crumble topping would tempt them enough to enjoy the blackberries in the cake too!
I served it warm with ice cream and Master Spice loved it. He wouldn't eat the blackberries raw but he loved them in this cake. Little Miss Spice was the opposite. She loved the uncooked blackberries and she loved the cake but picked out all the berries! Even so, she was asking me to make it again as soon as it was finished. In fact, this blackberry coconut tray bake was so popular that I ended up making it again just a week later.
When I first received my copy of Foraging with Kids I really wanted to go out and find some of the more unusual plants and make something with them. However, despite the apparent growing interest in foraging it seems as if so many people are afraid of it and don't even pick things they recognise.
Just in our local park there are lots of blackberry bushes but you hardly ever see anyone picking the berries. Or maybe they just don't arrive armed with empty containers like we do! Whatever the reason, blackberries are the perfect fruit to start foraging with as almost everyone knows where to find some locally at the right time of year.
Little Miss Spice and I only needed to go round the corner from our house and we picked two large punnets. We had enough to make this and some to spare! I definitely plan to make some more recipes from the book soon and I am looking forward to trying some of the plants which most people don't know you can eat.
Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar
Foraging with kids focuses on 52 wild edible plants which are all relatively easy to find. The book has detailed hand drawings as well as descriptions of each plant including how to recognise it and where to find it. There are recipes for all of the plants, often more than one. Most of the them are recipes you can eat but there are also recipes for soap and bath mix.
I have to admit that I read the book from cover to cover when I first got it as I wanted to know what to look for. It'll be a great book to take with me when I next go out foraging. Although the pictures are hand drawings, they are very detailed and will really help when trying to find a specific plant and identify it.
Is it just a kid's book?
Not at all. I'd say it's a beginner's foraging book, suitable for older children who can read well or adults. It's great for anyone who wants to make a start on foraging.
One thing that had always put me off foraging was the fear that I might misidentify something and poison myself. Or even worse, my children! Luckily this book doesn't contain any plants that could be mistaken for anything that could be poisonous. Just knowing that gives me a lot of confidence.
Could you adapt this blackberry and coconut tray bake?
I often adapt recipes if I don't have exactly the right ingredients. I also adapt them for fun and to experiment with flavours.
The easiest way to adapt this blackberry tray bake this would be to use a different fruit. If you're lucky enough to be able to find bilberries or wild raspberries they would work beautifully in this traybake. Of course, if you haven't even managed to go foraging but fancy the coconut and oats in this cake then almost any fruit would work. I think apple would work well with the oats and the coconut. Plums would also be very tasty.
If you want to make it healthier and lower in sugar then you can easily cut out 50g and it will still be delicious and sweet.
More Sweet Berry Recipes
Do check out one of these recipes made with berries:
Recipe
Blackberry and Coconut Tray Bake
Ingredients
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 250 g light soft brown sugar
- 30 g porridge oats
- Pinch salt
- 200 g butter cold, diced
- 80 g dessicated coconut
- 2 eggs
- 350 g blackberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a square loose bottomed tin with baking parper.
- Put the first 5 ingredients (flour, sugar, oats, salt and butter) into a bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the coconut.
- Remove about three tablespoons of the mixture and set aside.
- Stir the eggs into the remaining mixture and then spoon it into the baking tin. Then cover it evenly with a layer of berries. Sprinkle the reserved crumble mixture over the top.
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes then turn the tin round and continue to bake for another 20-35 minutes.
- Let them cool a little in the tin. They are delicious warm with ice cream as well as cold.
Notes
Nutrition
Keep in touch
Do let me know if you try this blackberry and coconut tray bake. I love to get feedback from readers.
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Places I'm sharing this Blackberry and Coconut Tray Bake
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Claudia
Is it possible to do this recipe without oats? Thank you!
Corina Blum
Hi Claudia
I haven't tried it without oats but as it only contains 30g I'm sure they could be left out. I would add a little extra flour instead. If you try it like that please let me know how it worked.
Corina
Sarah Collins
My four year old loves blackberry picking and we are lucky to have pear and apple trees on common land nearby for windfall crumbles. We haven’t braved the stinging nettles yet though!
fionajk42
my foraging attempts to-date have been limited to blackberry picking, but I'd love to find out more, especially about seaweed as we live near the coast.
Amanda W
We've not done any foreging with the kids yet but my 5 year old has just started learning about it at school so would be fab to win the book so we could learn more and make a start!
Jo McPherson
We used to go blackberry picking a lot, but the bushes are all disappearing now
janine atkin
we have never foraged!!!!
Self Care Mom (@SelfCareMom)
Have only ver foraged for blackberries. Would love to find more things to forgage.
Laura Napier
Wild bramble picking is always fun! Make jam with them
tamara foster
Have never done it x
charlotte wilde
we went on a fungus foray and learnt which ones we can eat - havn't dared do it yet but we love spotting them!!
dana
My mother grew up in the countryside and she always carried a bag with her. We picked mushrooms and dried them; sorrel for soup; bilberries and blackberries as well as elderberries, rose hips and elder flower for wine!
Tammy Neal
We love forging for fruit x
Pippa Ainsworth
We do quite a bit of foraging but I'm a Beaver Scouts leader and would like to try it with them next year
Lauren Stebbings
I've taken the kids to pick samphire on the marsh 🙂 lots of wildlife to see there too. They found it hilarious I was so scared when I spotted the cows were nearby (yep cows are put on the marsh and go out much further than you'd think!)
We've also done blackberry picking and beech nuts but samphire is my favourite to go get
Rachael Sexey
Me and my children look picking blackberries
Rebecca Mercer
We've foraged for blackberries would love to do more but need a bit of guidance
Stacy Fenemore
we have only foraged blackberries as I am not 100% what is safe etc
Abigail
I love foraging, I never buy berries! We love being out in nature and eating in season!
sharon martin
don't forage much at the moment, but have fond memories from childhood of foraging with the family and my nan making tasty blackberry jelly jam
Hayley Elvin
We get lots of blackberries growing near where we live so the kids love going to pick them.
Sandra Fortune
I grow black and red currants in my garden my grandson loves picking those but we go wild blueberry picking and looking for blackberries
Lorraine Stone
We love to look for and photo different mushrooms and toadstools. There are some very different shape and colour ones out there. Of course we don't pick them! 😉
hannah igoe
My kids love it and the excitement that you don't know what you will find
Jessi
Our two year old loves blackberry picking, she knows which ones are ready and which arent
Stephanie Ann
love baking cakes
Adrian Bold
We collect a LOT of blackberries each year and make them into crumbles.
Rebecca Whatmore
We love to pick blackberries for a crumble.
Teresa Sheldon
Love going foraging with the kids blackberries, sloes, elderflowers we pick loads of different things for jams cordials and of course gin
Erica Hughes
Blackberries and chestnuts
Candyfloss
There are brambles growing all over around where I live. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to stumble upon a wild apple or pear tree too. (Angela Kelly)
Jennifer
I've picked the odd bramble but still to really get into it, always been a bit wary of weedkillers in parks (and wee wees!). I have a small allotment now and it's amazing how many of the weeds - and there are many! - are edible and have such a lot of nutritional value. Had a couple of field mushrooms too.
ruth lee
we love foraging in rock pools looking for creatures
sam cornford
We've only ever gone foraging for blackberries. Did make a lovely blackberry and apple crumble with them though.
Katrina Adams
Other than for Blackberries, I have very little experience with foraging. I am looking to do more things like this though to try and reduce my food waste and impact on the environment.
Richard Saunders
When we see family in Cornwall we often go blackberry picking... they always taste better if wild
Allan Wilson
Took the kids Blackberry picking on Sunday, one picked 2, declared he was bored and went to play the dogs, the other climbed a tree !!
modzy78
Growing up, I'd pick raspberries, elderberries, blackberries, apples, sour clover, and teaberries (they're American). I've taken my daughter blackberry picking but have been a bit nervous to do more because I don't know British plants as well.
Nicki Ramsay
I've always gone blackberry picking and collecting chestnuts in the woods. I found a couple of field mushrooms last year but wasn't brave enough to cook them, I'm still a bit wary of my mushroom identification skills.
Christopher Read
Just picking blackberries so far - but it would be fun to do more 🙂
jo liddement
Just last weekend we collected chestnuts and spend ages peeling them. My husband and son have made some delicious chestnut 'jam' spread with them which tastes great over ice cream. You can get so much for out in the wild.
Karen Barrett
Mainly blackberries and wimberries
Sharon Burroughs
Me and my kids love going blackberry picking
Joanna Ford
I love to pick blackberries
Deirdre M
I grew up in the countryside so I have wonderful memories of gathering blackberries when in season & bringing them back for apple & blackberry crumble! We also knew where a 'secret', but really just abandoned/ignored damson tree was so we would get armfuls to make up jam. Also, for the briefest window, we could get field mushrooms - out first thing in the morning to get them & then fried up in the pan for the most amazing breakfast that I would give anything to taste again! No other mushroom that I have tried comes close in terms of richness of flavour. It is *so* difficult to find field mushrooms now - living in London doesn't help of course!
katyhacket
I used to go blackberry picking in my Gran's garden as a little girl. I have just moved to the countryside with my daughter and want to teach her more about nature and the world around us so I would love this book!
Lucy Anthony
I used all my blackberries for blackberry wine this year, now I'm wishing I had saved some for desert!
Jo F
We've taken the boys foraging for blackberries as well as sloes for sloe gin (for us not them!)
Charmaine Dance
We enjoy picking blackberries
Robyn Clarke
I have never foraged, I'm always scared I pick something that I shouldn't.
Carole Nott
love to pick blackberries along the waterways near my home
vanessa BALL
we have loads of blackberries in the freezer which we have been picking over the last few weeks
Carolyn E
I can remember foraging for blackberries with my granny. I’d like to up the harves5 with my kids and look for more !
Eileen Tingle
When I was younger my friends and I frequently went off on our bikes with a carrier bag and returned hours later with heaps of blackberries for our mums. How things have changed.
emma morgan
I was hungry before I stumbled across this site , no I’m simply ravenous & craving cake.
Pam Francis Gregory
Just foraging fruit from hedgerows, trees etc
Maggie Drummond
We've only really forage for gambles with the kids so far, we take them on a walk my grandparents always took me and my cousins on when we were younger, my grandad always pointed out which berries to take back to granny 🙂
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
Love the sound of this traybake and the combination of coconut and blackberries sounds delicious. We have some blackberry bushes right by our house and boys have been asking for containers to go and pick them. We ended up making some blackberry and apple jam using all the fruit they managed to pick and now I would love to try your cake. 🙂 Thankfully blackberry season isn't over yet! 🙂 x
Corina Blum
I'm so pleased you like the sound of it Jo. Your blackberry and apple jam sounds lovely and is something I'd love to try too - I've never made jam but it's something I feel I should have a go at one day! x
Debbie Birchall
We like to combine foraging with our dog walks - blackberries for the kids and sloes for me for my Christmas gin!
Helen Thurston
Blackberries, elderberries and sloes are our usual finds.
CHRIS ANDREWS
Tell me about your experiences of foraging.
apart from blackberry picking as a child l have no foraging experience, l hope this book will inspire me
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
Wow! I love this traybake. I don't think I've ever put blackberries and coconut together, but now I really want to!! Eb x
Corina Blum
They're really good together! There's not actually a lot of coconut in it but you can definitely still taste it x
Jacqui Bellefontaine
I recently did a similar recipe with balckberries but yours looks better very tasty, I could eat a slice right now. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Corina Blum
Aww thank Jacqui but I'm sure yours was delicious too! I do love baking with blackberries at this time of year.
Ruth Harwood
we love going up to the hills around the city and looking for mushrooms, it's fun and good exercise!
Jade Bremner
My son loves to go blackberry picking he eats as many as he can while picking as well
Margaret Clarkson
Brambling is a mjor activity for us in Autumn.
Helen B
We forage for blackberries and elderberries every year, filling a freezer drawer and some, but not so sure of what else we could pick or what we could do with them.
Laura Pritchard
Our usual limit is blackberry picking in September!
Mark R
Brambling has always been a family tradition, we always have a weigh in to see who collected most.
Louise Fairweather
My boys loved blackberry picking a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed making sponge with them too! This looks lovely #cookblogshare
Michelle Ferguson
I haven't done any since I was a kid, would love to take my nephews out foraging
Laura Banks
i used to always go blackberry picking when i was a kid there was loads where i lived
Monika Dabrowski
This looks gorgeous, definitely my kind of dessert. I love foraging for blackberries but I can't really find them this year. Last year we picked loads.
ElizM
we love foraging for blackberries - very cautious about mushrooms though, too risky!
Emma B
I find the idea of foraging fascinating. Always go blackberry picking and would love some more ideas of what to forage for
Jessica Powell
I've never really tried it much beyond picking berries for jam making!
Bethany Molyneux
Picking sloe berries is the best! Especially when they can be used to make gin later on
Margaret Gallagher
Love foraging - especially for berries and apples and nuts - bit wary of other things that are edible so tend to stick to what i know
Geetha Priyanka
Blackberry, coconut and oats combo sounds so healthy and amazing. This book sounds useful for kids. I will check it out soon as I think this book is perfect for me to start foraging with my daughter. #CookBlogShare
Lathiya
I love tray bakes and with coconut in it, i can't wait to try..Lovely recipe
Rebecca Brown
I love foraging,.it's a great way to eat fresh seasonal food! Everything from brambles to wild garlic for salads ends up in our kitchen 🙂
Alexandra Mercer
My children love gathering all the blackberries they can in the hope I'll make a crumble.
Alice Dixon
We love picking blackberries, I always go out with tubs or sandwich bags when I know they are ripe and we love making pies and crumbles with them. But I’m a bit wary to pick anything else.
Solange
We used to go foraging when we were younger. Now we take the kids.
Corinne Peat
I take the kids foraging in granny’s big garden. There are so many types of fruit there. I used to do the same when I was little.
laura stewart
we go up into the woods to see what we can find x
Elizabeth Bazley
I have an allotment and the perimeter fence is laden with blackberries,I use a walking stick to hook down the hard to get brambles x
Victoria Sparrow
We love foraging with the kids. That book would be perfect for us.
Kim Murray
We have a lovely stretch near the canal, lovely and quiet - just a few fisherman - there's rosehips too x
Amy Bondoc
we love collecting blackberries and wild garlic grows plenty in our local forst walk
Andrea Upton
We pick loads of blackberries, my children love bramble jelly, we freeze some too for the winter months. I love the look of the recipe, I am going to try it out
Annabel Greaves
It is fun to explore and forage with the kids
deborah Bascombe
We went on a seashore forage and tried limpet stalking. They were surprisingly tasty!
Mark Wilson
Looks yummy
Lucinda Barton
We tend to take our scout groups foraging. Its amazing the way their faces light up when they discover that they can produce something fun and amazing for free!