Berry cake and late nights

It's summer vacation. Again. While that makes my days chaos clusters, it frees up my nights for writing without curfews. It was last summer that I ripped through Will & Maggie by staying up all hours of the night and sleeping in every morning. 170,000 words in a couple of weeks. It was glorious. The productivity, not the finished first draft.

My arsenal of writing tools is well-stocked; Diet Cherry Coke, espresso beans, energy drinks, chocolate, and booze. Unless one of the three agents currently perusing my manuscript offers to represent me and sends a long list of revisions, I will be plugging away at REM this summer.

In celebration of my freedom from early mornings, I present you all with this morning's breakfast: A pile of fresh berries suspended in rich butter and cream cheese cake. Since all the seeds in the berries help promote bowel regularity, consider it health food. You're welcome!

The Seeds of Love (a.k.a. berry cake)

This recipe yields one 9" round and can easily be doubled for a 9x13" pan.

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 t vanilla

2 cups fresh (or frozen, if you're a loser) berries.

Cinnamon sugar, optional

Powdered sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9" round cake pan. If you're doubling the recipe, use a 9x13" pan. The berries will stick mercilessly, so I highly recommend lining the pan with parchment paper for easy removal.

Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until combined. Beat in egg. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into butter and sugar mixture until just combined. Fold in vanilla and berries. Spread batter in prepared pan and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if using.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert onto serving plate and dust with powdered sugar, if using.