I’ve mentioned many times that the best ideas can come to you out of the blue, and are often most unexpected.

For example, this week’s recipe came to me in, of all places, the car park behind the caf�. I’d been thinking about different ideas for filling Eccles cakes recently, after having seen their popularity rise at T&Cake.

We serve a classic Eccles at the moment, a hot puff-pastry parcel filled with currants, sultanas and a few golden raisins bound with sugar, butter, lemon and orange zest, with a hint of warm cake spice; cinnamon, mace and ginger.

Alongside it we like to serve a wedge of sharp Wensleydale cheese, the perfect contrast. A few weeks ago I’d seen a picture of a puff pastry tart filled with blueberries, and the idea came to me that an allblueberry Eccles cake might be interesting.

I was all set to buy in a couple of punnets and get experimenting when I noticed the bramble bushes that line the car park, and how heavily laden with ripe blackberries they were.

Instantly, I knew I’d have to change things to accommodate these impressive fruits, growing wild and free just yards from my kitchen door. I’ve honestly not seen such plump, ripe, good-looking fruit in ages, and I quickly rushed back inside for a bowl to collect them in.

One thing that this wet-dry-wet summer has done, clearly, is do wonders for the berries, wild and cultivated. I suggest you get out there and forage a few bags of these lovely ripe fruits while they’re all over the place.

They will freeze very well, and add a deep perfumed flavour to all manner of dishes, from the savoury to the sweet. Blackberries are lovely paired with rich, roasted game dishes – or perhaps try a few chopped into a stock sauce to accompany roast lamb?

How about adding a few blackberries for a different take on apple sauce with roast pork? They do some of their best work when paired with tart cooking apples, such as Bramleys or my favourite, the Howgate Wonder.

The perfume and sugariness of the blackberry mingles so perfectly with the sourness of the apple, and the textures work with each other brilliantly, the yielding crunch of the apple and the squish of the berry.

A batch of this early autumnal compote can make so many recipes, from simple crumbles and pies to more elaborate cakes and patisseries.

The Eccles cake is a great way to show off the clean flavours, adding a lovely buttery crunch to the fruit, especially when paired with a little dairy of some kind, whether it’s a drizzle of chilled single cream, a wedge of sharp cheese, or a scoop of rich ice-cream.

And, whilst making notes for this recipe, I remembered that, long ago, I’d written down a recipe for cheese ice-cream I’d seen the chef Nigel Haworth make at his excellent restaurant over the Pennines, Northcote Manor.

Of course, he uses Lancashire cheese, serving it alongside a sweet apple cake, but I decided to stay local, and use a good Yorkshire cheese, a nicely acidic creamy Wensleydale, from the creamery in Hawes.

The result is a delight, striking a terrific balance between traditional sweet ice-cream and the tang of a slice of fresh cheese, and when combined with the warm fruit-filled pastry, it’s remarkable how all the flavours work together in such harmony.

Please note that for this recipe, the ice-cream requires churning in an ice-cream maker. If you like, you could serve a shop-bought ice-cream instead, but the cheese flavour works very well with this particular pastry, so if you can go for it, please do so.

For about 10-12 Eccles cakes:

1kg Bramley (cooking) apples

500g fresh blackberries, washed

100g unrefined golden caster sugar, plus a little extra

The juice and grated zest of 2 lemons

2 x 375g packets ready-rolled puff pastry

A splash of milk

For the ice-cream:

420ml double cream

420ml full cream milk

10 fresh, free-range egg yolks

180g unrefined golden caster sugar

300g cream cheese

160g finely-grated Wensleydale cheese

Method:

Firstly, make the ice-cream. Bring the cream and milk to a gentle simmer in a stainless steel pan.

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gently pour the warm milk into the egg, whisking continuously, then return to the pan and cook for a few more minutes over gentle heat until the custard thickens slightly and will coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Whisk in the cream cheese and the Wensleydale, and when the cheese has melted and the mixture is smooth, pass through a fine sieve into a clean jug.

Churn in the ice cream machine until thick and creamy, and store in the freezer until required.

Now for the apple mixture; pour a couple of teaspoons of the lemon juice into a large bowl of chilled water. Peel the apples, cut out the core and cut into 2cm dice. Put these in the lemon water as you go, which helps avoid oxidisation of the apple.

When you’ve finished, drain the apple, and put into a non-reactive (stainless steel / enamel) pan with the remaining lemon juice, the zest and the sugar.

Heat gently, until the apple begins to soften slightly, then add the washed blackberries and stir gently until the mixture is just starting to become soggy.

Tip into a bowl and chill until completely cold and set. Allow the pastry to come to room temperature, which avoids any unwanted cracking.

To make the Eccles cakes, open out the pastry and cut each sheet into six squares.

Place a large dollop of apple mixture in the centre of each square, and carefully roll up each corner, pinching the ends together. Invert onto a work surface and massage gently into a smooth rounded pillow shape, pinching any loose pastry together underneath.

Place on a tray in the fridge until you have used up all the pastry. When the pastry has chilled and hardened, remove from the fridge, dip half-way in milk and roll in a little caster sugar.

Cut three small slits, about 1/2cm in length, on the top of each pastry. Place on a lightly-greased baking tray. Heat the oven to 220�C / Gas 7.

Bake the Eccles cakes for about 15 minutes, until they are golden and crunchy, and just beginning to leak a little purple juice. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve immediately with a scoop of the ice-cream.