Juliet Sear's lemon and blackberry loaf cake
The heatwave has filled our hedgerows with an early crop of blackberries, so Juliet is making the most of them with her lemon and blackberry loaf cake. Sweet, juicy blackberries are baked into the loaf itself and Juliet tops with tangy lemon drizzle topping - the perfect bake for this Bank Holiday weekend!
Lemon and blackberry loaf
Serves 8
Ingredients
175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
125g Greek yoghurt
3 medium free range eggs
zest and juice 1 lemon
200g self-raising flour w ½ tsp baking powder whisked in plus 2 tsp for dusting the fruit
175g golden caster sugar
275g blackberries (200 for the sponge and 75g for the glaze)
125g icing sugar
To decorate you can add a few fresh blackberries (optional) or use edible flowers
Method
1. Heat oven to 160C fan
2. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with two pieces at either end and one wide long strip of baking parchment over the sides and base
3. Place the yogurt, softened butter, eggs, lemon zest, and caster sugar into a large mixing bowl and whisk together with an electric whisk or by hand until the batter just comes together, don’t worry if it looks a little lumpy.
4. Once all mixed together, whisk in the flour and baking powder and mix until you have a smooth, lump free batter
5. Spoon half into the prepared tin. Toss 200g of blackberries in a little flour scatter half over the batter sprinkle half into the tin,
6. Scrape the rest of the batter on top, then scatter the other half of the berries on top. Bake for approx 50 mins to one hour until golden, and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
7. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then place on a wire rack to cool.
8. For the glaze, puree the blackberries and 1 tbsp lemon juice in a blender, then pass through a sieve to give you a thick puree.
9. Stir most of it in the sifted icing sugar until you have a lovely purple icing, fairly thick but runny enough to drizzle over the edges of the loaf, add a little water if you need to.
10. Spread over the top of the cake, encouraging a few drips over the sides and dot over the remaining puree and swirl through to make a pretty pattern.
11. Add a few more blackberries and flowers to decorate if you wish.