Baking with berries: sweet, tart and balanced

Berries are mostly water wearing a delicious disguise. Bake them right and they turn jammy; bake them wrong and they flood the batter. The difference is sugar, heat and timing.

Macerate first

Toss berries with two tablespoons of sugar and rest them twenty minutes. The juices draw out, the flavour concentrates, and you can fold fruit — not puddles — through the batter. Our fluffy berry pancakes use this exact step.

Frozen often wins

Frozen berries are picked ripe and hold their shape in hot batter better than tired fresh ones. Bake from frozen, add five minutes, and never thaw into a sink of pink water.

Balance the tartness

Taste the berries raw, then adjust: tart fruit wants more sugar and a pinch of salt; sweet fruit wants lemon to wake it up. Finish warm bakes with something cold — cream, ice cream or yoghurt.