So, it’s been a while since I have baked. I’ve been going through a rough patch for a while now, so it has affected basically all aspects of my life. Initially, I tried to keep going with baking and all other things but then I realized that I am not going to do anything half-heartedly. So after a break, I’m back and this time I will take things slow and try to pour my heart out to you guys. You have stuck with me and I cannot thank you enough.
Speaking of this cake, I have always loved a nice tangy lemony cake and this cake is exactly that. It’s very simple to make and you can always use your favourite berries instead of the ones I’ve used or you could simply use some lemon curd for the filling. The world is your oyster, my friend.
Ingredients breakdown:
Plain flour: This is your regular all-purpose flour or maida as we call it. I use what I buy locally.
Caster sugar: This is just regular sugar but it is finer in texture. This helps it to dissolve in the batter so that you don’t get a batter that is grainy. It leads to an even texture in the baked cake.
Note: You can use regular sugar available at home, however, if the granules are bigger, you should grind it to a fine powder. This will help it to dissolve in the batter.
Lemon zest: This is perhaps the most important ingredient in the cake, more than the lemon juice. The zest is where the flavour is, if you do not use it then your cake will end up tasting ‘eggy.’ I love to use a micro-plane to get all the zest from the lemon.
NOTE: Wash and dry your lemon properly before zesting. Ensure that you don’t get the white part of the lemon skin when you zest, only the yellow.
Vanilla: No harm in using extract, essence, the real bean, paste, etc. whatever you have and already use is fine.
Butter: Use the best butter you can find. It makes all the difference. I always use salted Amul Butter. Hands down, best butter ever.
Blueberry Jam: You can use any good quality store bought jam. I always recommend reading the ingredients, it shouldn’t have more than 4-5 ingredients and try to get one with maximum amount of blueberries.
I also like to make my own, small batch of jam if I get frozen blueberries. That way I can control the amount of sugar that goes into it.
Lemon and Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
225 g all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
225 g caster sugar
1 tbsp. lemon zest
4 large eggs
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
255 g butter, cut into cubes at room temperature. (I use salted butter)
For the frosting:
150 g unsalted butter, room temperature
50 g cream cheese, room temperature
100 g sugar, powdered
20 ml water, warm
Filling and garnish: Blueberry jam and fresh blueberries
Directions
Make the cake:
Grease and two 7 inch round cake pans and preheat your oven to 175 C.
In a bowl add the caster sugar and freshly grated lemon zest and rub the zest into the sugar using your fingers. This helps in releasing maximum lemon flavour.
Into the sugar, sift the flour and baking powder. Whisk gently to combine everything.
In a separate bowl add your room temperature eggs, lemon juice, vanilla and milk. Whisk well until homogenous. Set this aside.
Into the bowl with the sugar and flour, add the cubed butter and using a hand held mixer whisk on low speed till the butter is combined into the flour. It will be crumbly, that is okay. Whisk for around 20-30 seconds.
Now pour half of the egg and lemon juice mixture into this four and butter bowl. Whisk on medium speed slowly increasing to high speed for around 1 minute. Now add the remaining liquid and whisk for 30 seconds. The batter will become thicker and will also be fluffier.
Pour the prepared batter evenly into the baking pans and bake the cakes for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan, on a wire rack. If you wish, you can cover the top of the pan with aluminium foil while the cakes are hot to lock in the steam and make the cake even moister.
Frosting:
In a bowl, take the powdered sugar and warm water. Mix well with a whisk to dissolve the sugar, if the mixture is too dry add more water carefully only 1 tsp. at a time. Once the mixture is smooth without any lumps or grainy bits, set it aside.
Add the soft butter and cream cheese into a separate bowl and whisk on high speed till fluffy and well combined, around 2-3 minutes.
Now pour the sugar liquid into the butter mixture and whisk for 4-5 minutes till the frosting is fluffy and light in colour.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Assembling: Place one layer of the cake on a plate or cake board, level the top if there is a dome. Spoon some frosting and spread it into an even layer.
Pour your favourite blueberry jam around 1-2 tbsp. and spread it leaving around 1 inch space around the circumference of the cake
Place the next cake on top and gently cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting as you please.
Decorate with fresh blueberries.
Refrigerate the cake for an hour before slicing and serving.
I hope you try this recipe. It is really easy and delicious.
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Until next time!
Love,
Bakesalotlady ❤
Bakesalotlady™ 