Lemon and Blueberry Syrup Loaf

 

 
So my attention has been rather monopolised these past few weeks.  At the start of August the Hubby and I welcomed two new additions to our home.  We are now the proud owners of two gorgeous Siberian kittens.  We have been waiting for them since January so were very excited when we were finally able to go and collect them from Liverpool.  It involved six hours of trains either way but it was worth it.  They are just the most beautiful creatures ever, as well as the cuddliest.  They love to curl up with you on the sofa and it is wonderful.  They make me so happy.  They are also very distracting.  That's not to say they have stopped me baking.  It's more that they stop me updating the blog.  Trying to do food photography in a small flat with two curious kittens is quite tricky.  As is trying to type anything as they want to sit on either you or the keyboard.  There's also not been a huge amount of new innovation in terms of what I have baked.  I've been doing a lot of favourites recently, so there's not been anything new.

Until the Hubby's birthday!  I always aim to do a new recipe for that, though it often involves similar flavour combinations.  This year was no different, as I was asked for the usual mix of lemon and blueberries.  I decided I wanted to do a take on a lemon drizzle cake.  The one the recipe is based off is a Nigella recipe, which was just lemon.  The idea of the syrupy 'icing' made it sound a bit more decadent than a normal drizzle cake and so I adapted it to my needs.

The first version I did of this cake was for the Hubby's birthday and it was not a loaf cake.  The Hubby wanted a round cake so I made it in an 8inch tin circular tin instead.  I personally did not like how it looked because it felt a bit flat.  I feel a round cake needs layers.  I much prefer the loaf look.  Since I didn't photograph it first time due to time issues, I decided to do it loaf shaped for the second version.  I also altered the recipe slightly by adding a little more flour and a little less milk.  The blueberries sank in the first one because the batter was too runny.  I wanted a thicker batter for the second one.  It worked much better.  I also used much bigger lemons and added more zest to get a much more distinct lemon-y flavour.  The second one was definitely much better overall.  Even the texture was nicer, though maybe that was down to my recent acquisition that I purchased with my birthday money: my very own KitchenAid Artisan mixer.  Yellow, of course.

The cake was very well received.  The Hubby was really happy.  He prefers the round one but everyone else liked the loaf better.  The syrup and berries make it a very juicy cake but not too wet.  It was delicious.  It goes really well with ice cream and strawberries too.

Recipe - inspired by How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Makes 1 x 1kg/2lb loaf

Cake:

• 175g/6oz caster sugar 
• 125g/4.5oz butter
• Zest of 2 large lemons
• 2 large eggs
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp milk
• 115g/4oz blueberries

Syrup:

• 155g/5.5oz icing sugar
• Juice of 2 large lemons
• 85g/3oz blueberries

1. Grease and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.  Cut the greaseproof paper so it hangs over the edge to make it easier to remove the cake after baking.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
3. In a large bowl beat together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Mix in the lemon zest.
5. Add the eggs and beat well.
6. Gently fold in the flour, followed by the milk and finally the blueberries.
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth top.
8. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Whilst cake is baking, make the syrup by combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and blueberries in a saucepan and cooking over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
10. Squash the blueberries within the pan to release the juice into the syrup and stir.
11. Switch off the heat and leave syrup to thicken slightly.  Just before removing cake from oven, strain the syrup through a sieve into a jug to remove the berry skins.
12. When cake is baked, remove from the oven, but leave in the tin, and quickly poke holes all over it with a skewer.
13. Pour the syrup over the cake.  Aim to get syrup to absorb in the centre of the cake and not just the edges.  Keep adding syrup, even if you think you are drowning the cake.  As long as it doesn't overflow the tin it is fine.
14. Leave the cake in the tin until it has absorbed all the syrup and has gone cold before removing it from the tin.  If you can stand to wait, wrap the cake up and leave it overnight to get a more intense syrup flavour.

Citrus Summer Fruit Drizzle Cake

Okay, well, long time no post, huh?  Last post was in December last year and now it's July!  This was a bit of an unexpected hiatus but a necessary one.  I became swamped with work after the Christmas holidays as I did not do so well in my first term at school and needed to make it up.  This got made worse by everyone getting sick or other things coming up which meant things were not getting done at reasonable times and ended up having to be done in a very short space of time.  Very stressful.  So much so that I ended up at the doctor's and have been given medication for anxiety, which I've always had but got worse these last couple of years.  Fun fun fun.  Anyway, the good news is that I did pass my probation year and I am a fully qualified teacher!  Bad news is that currently I don't have a job after the summer.  I didn't do so good in the interview as what I thought I was saying was not coming across.  Ah well.  I've just got to keep trying and see what comes up.

But we're not here to listen to me moan; we're here about cake!  Hectic work life meant there was little time for baking in the last few months but when I was doing reports it was something I just had to make time for.  Writing reports is so so dull and takes forever!  I had to break it into smaller blocks per day and then even smaller ones after that.  Baking was then fitted in between the blocks to keep me sane. 

 

This looked like a nice, summery bake.  I like baking with fruit, even if I am not keen to eat it.  I also think it looks aesthetically pleasing too without being too complicated.  I ended up making two of these; one for home and one for school.  I bought a mixed box of fruit from Sainsbury's which had strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in.  I then bulked it out a little with an extra tub of blueberries.  I also decided I would zest up the cake with some lime in the batter rather than just using the juice in the drizzle.  It worked really well.  It is a really moist cake with a nice tang to offset the sweetness of the fruit.  Both cakes were gobbled up very quickly.

And just before I let you have the recipe, I want to give a shout-out to my Hubby.  One of the biggest tragedies of not baking much has been the lack of food photography I have gotten to do!  Doubly so because that wonderful, sweet husband of mine gave me a DSLR camera for Christmas!  I was so surprised and felt so spoilt.  It has been so fun to use and takes such lovely pictures.  I am still getting to grips with it but I think I did a pretty good job with these snaps!

Recipe -  Adapted from BBC GoodFood
Makes a 2lb loaf cake


Cake:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz golden caster sugar
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 2 limes
• 100g/3.5oz mixed summer fruits 

Drizzle:

• 75g/2.5oz mixed summer fruits
• 1-2tbsp lime juice
• 140g/5oz granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with butter.  Line the base with a long strip of greaseproof paper so that the ends hang out over the sides of the tin (it will help you remove the cake from the tin later).
2. In a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, lime zest and vanilla extract  until the batter is smooth, pale and creamy.  It will be very thick.
3. Put a third of the mix into the cake tin then scatter half of the fruit over the top.
4. Spread another third of the cake mix over the top and then scatter on the rest of the fruit.  
5. Finally top with the last of the cake mix and smooth over with a spoon.
6. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Put the fruit and sugar for the drizzle in a bowl with the lime juice and stir together, mashing the fruit a little as you do.
8. When you have removed the cake from the oven poke it all over with a skewer.
9. Spoon the drizzle over the cake then leave inside the tin until the cake is cool and the topping is set.  
10. Use the strip of paper to help remove the cake from the tin.