Michelle Darmody: How to bake a blackberry and almond loaf — and the mistakes to avoid

Blackberries can be used for more than jam. As the harvest season progresses and school starts again, loaf cakes like these are handy for afternoon snacks. 

The distinctive taste and smell of blackberries also evokes memories of bubbling saucepans of jam, the sweet sticky smell filing the kitchen.

The hedgerows are becoming laden with shiny, inky blackberries. 

I have clear memories of picking berries as a child, filling bowls to the brim on long warm evenings in Currabinny Woods, or on coastal walks, foraging through thorny bushes looking for the juiciest ones.