Now we’re back to buying blueberries by the bucket from the farmers market, I’m indulging myself by flinging them in or on all sorts of dishes – granola, pancakes, muffins, all benefit from their sweet tang. However, I think  they’re particularly lovely paired with lemon, and never more so than in this simple cake. It’s whizzed up in a food processor, and has a wonderful zingy lemon flavour which comes not only from the batter, but from a thin, lemon glaze that is brushed over it. It’s perfect for afternoon tea, and also makes a fantastic dessert served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

BLUEBERRY, LEMON & SOUR CREAM CAKE

3 cups (450g) plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3 eggs

2 cups (440g) caster sugar

250g unsalted butter, in chunks

1 cup (250ml) sour cream

3 heaped teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest

2 1/2 tablespoons strained lemon juice

200g fresh or frozen blueberries

extra plain flour, for coating the tin and dusting the berries

Lemon glaze

1 cup (160g) icing sugar mixture, sifted

1/4 cup (60ml) strained lemon juice

30g melted unsalted butter

Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 160C. Butter and flour a 24 – 25cm bundt tin.

Whiz the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a large food processor, until they’re well mixed, then tip them into a bowl. Put the eggs and sugar into the processor and whiz them for a minute. Add the butter and process the mixture for another minute until it’s thick and creamy.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and lemon zest and juice, then pour this into the mixture in the processor. Whiz the whole lot for 10 seconds, then add the reserved flour mixture and pulse with quick on/off bursts, stopping and scraping down the sides once or twice, until it’s just combined.

Toss the blueberries in a dessertspoonful of flour so they’re lightly coated.

Remove the bowl from the processor and use a rubber spatula to gently stir in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake it for 1 π hours, or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. When it’s ready, take the cake out of the oven, sit it on a cooling rack, and leave it to settle in the tin for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together all the glaze ingredients in a bowl until they’re smooth. Using a thin palette knife, carefully loosen the edges of the cake. Invert the cake onto the cooling rack and gently ease off the tin. With a plate underneath to catch any drips, brush the cake all over the glaze. Keep brushing on layers of glaze until there is none left – the cake will slowly absorb it. Leave it to cool completely.

To serve the cake, gently transfer it to a stand or plate and dust it with icing sugar. It’s wonderful eaten with a scoop of lightly whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream. Any leftover cake keeps well in an airtight tin for up to three days. It also freezes really well, and can be gently warmed in a microwave oven. Serves 12 -14.

Continental (cultured unsalted) butter is my all-time favourite butter, and I always keep a stock in the freezer. It has a delectable tang, and makes the best cakes, pastries, biscuits, puddings, and anything else you can think of that uses butter!

For more information on Belinda Jeffery’s recipes go to:  belindajeffery.com.au/home.html

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Hooray! It’s blueberry time. These past few weeks at the farmers market, I’ve seen many happy shoppers clutching the familiar white buckets from our local blueberry grower. I love that we can buy them by the bucket – there is something just so luxurious about being able to plunge your hand into a bucketful of berries, pull out a fistful, and eat them!

A lot of this goes on during our drive home, but fortunately, there are always enough berries left for at least one gently spicy blueberry crumble cake – my life wouldn’t be worth living if there wasn’t! It’s a simple recipe, but ever-so good, and wonderfully versatile – it works brilliantly well as a pudding (especially with a scoop of ice cream), a cake or a slice.

SPICY BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE ‘CAKE’

Serves 6-8

240g plain flour

½ cup (120g) caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra

20g cold unsalted butter, extra, cut into tiny cubes,

1 extra-large egg (70g)

½ cup (125ml) sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Icing sugar, for dusting

Softly whipped cream, or good vanilla bean ice cream, to serve

Preheat your oven to 175C. Butter a 20cm square cake tin, line the base with buttered baking paper, then dust the tin with flour. Set the tin aside.

Tip the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Whiz them together for 15 seconds until they’re thoroughly combined. Now add the butter, and pulse it in until the mixture resembles fine-ish breadcrumbs.

Scoop 1½ cups of the crumb mixture into a bowl (this is for the crumble topping). Stir the extra tablespoon of caster sugar into this, then scatter the extra 20g of cold butter over the top and use your fingers to lightly rub it into the flour mixture. What you’re after is a mixture of big and little crumbs. When it’s done, cover the crumble and pop it in the fridge.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, beat the egg lightly, then add the sour cream and vanilla and whisk until they’re well combined. Tip the flour mixture left in the processor into the egg mixture, and stir them together. Now, gently but thoroughly mix in the blueberries – the batter will be quite stiff (if you’re using frozen berries, just mix them in in their frozen state). Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, then carefully spread it out as best you can, trying not to squash the berries. (It’s a bit awkward to do this as the batter is thick, but it does spread, promise!) Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the top, then shake the tin gently to settle it.

Spicy Blueberry Crumble Cake. Photo: Rodney Weidland.

Pop the tin in the oven and bake the cake for 55-60 minutes, or until the top is pale golden and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. It puffs up a bit, but sinks as it cools.

When the cake is ready, transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool in the tin. After 20 minutes carefully run a fine palette knife, or blunt knife, around the sides of the tin to loosen the cake. Lay a sheet of baking paper over the tin (this helps stop damaging the top when you flip the cake over) then sit a flat plate on top of this. Carefully invert the cake, then gently remove the tin and lining paper. Now sit a serving plate on the cake and invert it again so the cake is crumble-side up. (The first time I did this I flipped it a little too enthusiastically and ended up with crumble mixture all over the kitchen, so I’ve learned to be a bit more circumspect now!).

Although you could eat the cake straight away, I think the flavour is best when it’s barely warm or at room temperature. When you’re ready to serve it, dust the top lightly with icing sugar and serve it with softly whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

P.S. This is probably best eaten on the day it’s made, however on the odd occasion I’ve had leftover cake, I’ve stored it in the fridge and brought it back to room temperature or warmed it gently to eat the following day, and it was still very good, if a bit firmer. It actually freezes well for a few weeks too.

Check out more of Belinda Jeffery’s recipes and her books on: belindajeffery

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Living as we do slap-bang in the middle of one of Australia’s biggest blueberry-growing regions, we’re blessed with an abundance of them, so much so that at our local farmers market we buy them by the bucketful rather than in punnets. It’s such a treat to be able to fling handfuls willy-nilly into cakes, muffins, puddings, ice cream, tarts…you name it, and I’ve quite likely tried it!

This classic fool, which is made in no-time, is probably one of the simplest but most sublime ways to eat them, as it’s nothing more than blueberries gently heated in a fragrant crème de cassis syrup then cooled and partly folded into rich whipped cream. The only addition I’d think about serving with it is a few crisp little biscuits to add a welcome crunch (homemade would be lovely, but good bought ones are fine too) – or, if you’re anything like me, for scooping up little morsels of fool.

By the way, if you would like to make a somewhat less rich version, you can replace some of the whipped cream with thick Greek-style yoghurt – it won’t be quite as light and airy, but it’s still very good.

Serves 4-6

1½ tablespoons cool water

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup (110g) caster sugar

1/3 cup (80ml) crème de cassis

450g blueberries

400ml rich (or thickened) cream

¼ cup pure icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Almond thins or shortbread fingers, for serving, optional

I nearly always keep a bottle of this intensely berry-ish blackcurrant liqueur on hand as it’s amazing what a little splash of it can do to pick up the flavour of all sorts of berries – and, I have to admit, it’s also not half-bad trickled into a glass of white wine as an aperitif!

Put the water, lemon zest, lemon juice and caster sugar into a large-ish heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved , then stop stirring and bring the syrup to the boil; as soon as it boils, reduce the heat to low, and pour in the crème de cassis and blueberries. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles very, very gently, and leave if for 5 minutes, giving it a slow stir now and then, being careful not to break up the berries.

Remove the pan from the heat and leave the berry mixture to cool, then carefully pour it into a container (watch out as it’s very splashy and the colour is lethal if it gets on your clothes). Seal it tightly, and pop it in the fridge to chill (you can make this 4 or 5 days ahead if you like).

Just before serving the fool, pour the cream into a chilled mixing bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then add the vanilla. Using an electric beater (or balloon whisk if you’re arm and wrist muscles are strong!) beat the mixture on medium speed until it forms lovely, billowy soft peaks, just be careful not to let it become grainy as this spoils its texture.

Mash about 1 cup of the chilled blueberry mixture to form a chunky puree, then partially fold it into the cream – the mixture will be a glorious streaky magenta colour. Spoon this into serving goblets or glasses (glass isn’t essential, but the jewel-like colour looks particularly gorgeous through it), spoon some of the reserved blueberry mixture over the top, and serve immediately with biscuits on the side.

Belinda Jeffery’s Utterly Delicious Simple Food is published by Lantern: https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781921383359/utterly-delicious-simple-food

You can find out more about Belinda on her website https://www.belindajeffery.com.au/home.html

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