Blueberry Lemon Pan Cake

Wedding season is in full swing so much of my time lately has been spent working on complex and decorative cakes. Whipping up anything from chocolate fudge cakes with dark chocolate peppermint ganache to genoise sponge with fresh raspberry filling. Then decorating them with all kinds of gorgeous finishes, from delicious buttercream to hand-painted fondant. Creating a cake for one of the most important days in a couple’s lives can be a lot of pressure so when I can I like to take it back to basics - which leads me to this lovely cake.

This cake isn’t flashy but it is beautiful. Simply whack the batter into a pan, bake, slice and enjoy. No icing required. No faff. Most ingredients, if not all, will already be in your kitchen – and if blueberries aren’t, they should be! Blueberries are in abundance right now, are delicious and inexpensive.

Thanks to Post Bank Restaurant for the shoot location (they've just opened a cute outdoor courtyard area), to Paper Plane and On My Hand for the pretty props and to Greta Kenyon Photography for the gorgeous pics!

Blueberry Lemon Pan Cake

250g butter

220g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 2 lemons

3 eggs

180ml yoghurt

250g flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 punnet blueberries

Preheat oven to 170°C (fan bake). Grease and line a pan (any standard sized pan will do but I used a 18x28cm rectangular one). Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest together then add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each. Whisk the dry ingredients together then fold into the creamed mix alternating with the yoghurt. Gently fold in almost all of the blueberries. Spoon batter into the pan and dot with the remaining blueberries. Sprinkle the top with a little caster sugar then bake for 50minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool and serve wedges cut straight out of the pan. If you do want to fancy it up a little, serve with a dollop of thick yoghurt on the side. 

Weekly Tip: Sometimes berries can sink to the bottom of a cake when baked. Although not necessary for this recipe, to avoid this happening toss them in a little flour before adding them to your batter.