After picking mulberries the other day, I wrote about this amazing family recipe for mulberry cake.  Turns out, that family recipe was corrupted.  The one that survives uses a cake mix.  And that vanilla sauce?  Boxed vanilla pudding, just thinned out with more milk.  Ta-da.  I think once mixes were introduced, many Southern desserts were adapted to them.  If that doesn’t bother you, go for it.  Honestly, it’s delicious.

I just can’t bring myself to use a cake mix.  Ingredients like “propylene glycol mono and diesters of fatty acids and distilled monogycerides” really turn me off.

 Besides, mixes only replace the dry ingredients.  It’s not that hard to sift a few together.  I decided to make something a little smaller, just the right size for a cast-iron skillet.  I still threw in 2 cups of mulberries.

 We had it for dessert and breakfast.  Maple syrup might have been more appropriate for breakfast, but the vanilla sauce is just so good.

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Mulberry Skillet Cake with Warm Vanilla Sauce

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup yogurt (unsweetened)
• 1/4 cup butter (melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups mulberries

Cake directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Butter the cast iron skillet and put it in the oven.  In a large mixing bowl, sift the first four ingredients.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs and add the milk, yogurt, butter and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Fold in the mulberries.  Pour the batter in the skillet and bake it for 30 minutes.  Make the vanilla sauce while it bakes.

Vanilla sauce ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• pinch of salt

Vanilla sauce directions:

In a medium saucepan, whisk sugars, salt and cornstarch.  Turn on the heat to medium.  Slowly whisk in the milk.  Keep stirring until the milk just starts to bubble, but not boil.  Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter.  Spoon it over individual slices of cake, and be sure to keep the extra nearby.