Saturday 10 November 2007

Overload of Blueberries = Cake

This cake is absolutely delicious and is literally bursting with blueberries. The blueberries along with the addition of yoghurt in the batter produce an incredibly moist and tender cake. The cake also contains two types of nut, some in the form of almond marzipan, used in the batter, and the other as crush hazelnuts which are sprinkled over the surface of the cake to give a nutty crunchy topping. What more could you want from a cake?

Last weekend, as ever, the urge to bake got the better of me and as I had a whole tub of blueberries from work, I went in search of a recipe to accommodate them. I found (and used) a great sounding recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini which required plenty of blueberries. However, I also tweaked it a bit by adding marzipan and hazelnuts into the equation and reduced the sugar slightly to compensate for the added marzipan. The result is fantastic, moist cake, juicy blueberries, little pockets of marzipan and a nutty topping. It was perfect to share with the rest of my family for afternoon tea, as I had gone home for the weekend. It’s definitely one I will make over and over again.

Blueberry Overload Cake
Ingredient

200g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
115g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
240ml plain natural yoghurt
400g blueberries
65g natural marzipan

For the topping
1½ tbsp light soft brown sugar
2½ tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 22cm 9inch spring form tin.
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs on at a time, beating well between each one. Chop the marzipan into small squares and fold into the batter along with the vanilla and yoghurt.
Sift over the flour, bicarb and baking powder and fold in well, turning the bowl as you go until just combined.
Place half of the batter into the cake tin and then cover the surface with half of the blueberries.
Spread the remaining half of batter evenly over the blueberries and top with the leftover berries.
Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts and sprinkle on the brown sugar.
Bake between 1hr – 1hr 15minutes until springy and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. (It will be wet if you hit a blueberry).
Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing from the in and allowing to cool before serving.
Tastes great eaten on its own, with crème fraiche or slightly warm with ice cream.

10 comments:

Carolyn said...

This really does look DELICIOUS the tweaking sounds perfect additions!

Gigi said...

OMG! This looks so delicious! The perfect cake for morning coffee.

Cheryl said...

I am overloaded in happiness. That cake is amazing and I agree with gigi that is definitely the kinda cake to go with a good cup of coffee.

Cheryl said...

I am overloaded in happiness. That cake is amazing and I agree with gigi that is definitely the kinda cake to go with a good cup of coffee.

Emily said...

I love blueberries! It might be my favorite fruit. And guess what? I love hazelnuts, too.
Your cake looks divine.

Emily said...

I love blueberries! It might be my favorite fruit. And guess what? I love hazelnuts, too.
Your cake looks divine.

KellytheCulinarian said...

That looks amazing! What an impressive brunch or tea treat.

Eva said...

This cake sounds really good! And it doesn't have a huge amount of butter so there'll be room for seconds..;-)

Anonymous said...

This looks delicious! I am absolutely going to try this. Thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow it does look incredible and I've been searching for a blueberry cake recipe. I'm not too keen on marzipan though- you said you substituted some sugar for marzipan, do you recomment I just ommit the marzipan and add 65g more of sugar...? Can't wait to make it!