Lemon & blueberry cake

I'm just back from a few weeks in Australia. One of my favourite things to do when I'm back home is to spend a few days in complete relaxation at my parents' farm in the Capertee Valley, about 3 hours west of Sydney. My mum revels in her kitchen, preparing breakfast, and then morning tea, lunch, and dinner (with dessert of course). She loves that my sister and I never say "mum, come out of the kitchen, sit down and relax", because we understand (because we're the same) that a day spent cooking for loved ones is relaxing!

When my mum served up this lemon and blueberry cake, it was so gorgeous I couldn't resist stealing the recipe for my blog. Here it is, a delicious, moist and oh-so-pretty cake. It comes from a 1995 edition of an Australian magazine "Better Homes and Gardens".

Lemon and Blueberry cake
3 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
3 eggs
2 cups caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2.5 tablespoons strained lemon juice
200g blueberries, fresh or frozen, tossed in enough flour just to coat


glaze
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/4 cup strained lemon juice
30g unsalted butter, melted
(use a little less liquid or butter if you want "icing" rather than "glaze" as per the photo of my mum's cake)



Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Butter and flour a medium sized ring tin, set aside.

Mix/wizz/beat together the sugar and eggs. Slice the butter into small chunks and add to the bowl, mixing as you go.

Combine the buttermilk, lemon zest and juice and then add to the mix. Add the flour, salt and bicarb soda and mix until just combined.

Fold through the blueberries. Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 1h 15min, or until a skewer comes out clean.


Once the cake is out of the oven, leave to cool before turning out of the tin and icing.


For the glaze, stir the ingredients together until smooth, and then ice the cake.

Perfect for, say, a Royal Wedding party?!