Blueberry, Almond and Lemon Cake
A slice of this berry-dotted cake is perfect late in the morning, for afternoon tea or after dinner, with coffee. It keeps for up to three days in a sealed container, but is at its absolute best on the day it's made.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons / ½ cup / 150 grams, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
- 190 grams toasted sugar or granulated or superfine sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest zest of a whole lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 90 grams all-purpose flour ⅔ cup, sifted
- 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 110 grams almond flour 1 cup
- 200 grams fresh blueberries 1½ cups, 6-8 ounces
For the icing
- 70 grams grams confectioners’ sugar ⅔ cup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or more juice as needed
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease a 1 pound (8.5") loaf pan with butter spray, line it with a parchment paper sling and spray the paper. Set the pan aside.
Prepare the wet indredients
- Place butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Beat on high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until light, then lower speed to medium.
- Add eggs in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times as necessary. The mix may split a little but don’t worry: It’ll come back together once you add the dry ingredients.
Make the batter
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and almond flour.
- Toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and set aside.
- With the stand mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing just until no white specks remain.
- Fold in the blueberries by hand, then scoop the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake and cool
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cake is golden brown but still uncooked.
- Cover loosely with foil and continue to cook for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until risen and cooked, and a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and set aside in its pan to cool for 10 minutes.
- Remove the cake from pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
Ice and serve
- When cake is cool, make the icing:
- Add lemon juice and icing sugar to a bowl and whisk together until smooth, adding a bit more juice if necessary, just until the icing moves when you tilt the bowl.
- Pour over the cake and gently spread out. The blueberries on the top of the cake may bleed into the icing a little, but this will add to the look.
- Let icing set (about 30 minutes), slice and serve.
Notes
I have incorporated most of the following advice into the recipe, EXCEPT for reducing the sugar. I'm going to use lightly toasted sugar (toasted 1 hour while blind baking a pie crust), to see what that does for the sweetness. I'm worried about what reducing the sugar might do to the moistness of the cake. Many users also commented that using 1 cube of butter worked out fine as well, but I haven't incorporated that change yet either.
I have consolidated some of the advice of other bakers in the comments and it led to a superb cake!
- Halved the sugar—the cake will still be PLENTY sweet, even before the icing
- Added a tsp of almond extract in addition to vanilla extract to really drive home the almond flavor
- Used the zest of a whole lemon
- Tossed the blueberries with a tablespoon of the dry ingredients so that they wouldn’t sink, then folded them into the batter all at once
- Cooked it uncovered for an hour