Recipe: Almond & Blueberry Butter Cake with Lemon White Icing

"Sometimes the simplest cakes are just the best," says Mercy Fenton in her weekly column. "This is a great cake for the novice baker to add to their favourite list. It’s easy and delicious, very much an everyday, any day type of cake."

Ingredients

225gr butter

200gr cream flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

200gr sugar

4 large free-range eggs

4 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

100gr frozen blue berries (leave frozen)

Icing

Ingredients

2 tbsp lemon juice

120gr Icing sugar

16gr toasted flaked almonds

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Line the base of a 9x9 inch tin with parchment paper and butter the sides.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and the salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, don’t forget to scrape the base and sides occasionally.
• One at a time, add the eggs to the butter and sugar, beating well each time keeping the mix light and smooth.
• Once all the eggs are combined, add the vanilla and then fold the flour into the batter, mix well.
• Finally, stir in the milk.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread evenly.
• Scatter the blueberries on top then bake for 40 to 50 minutes until cooked through and golden on top.
• Allow to cool in the tin for 10 to 15 minutes before lifting out and transfer onto a wire rack.
• Once completely cool, 3 to 4 hours, prepare the lemon icing.

To finish

• Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper, (a lot of the blueberries will have sank so turning the cake over brings them to the top again and it looks much prettier. It also means you have a completely smooth surface to cover.)
• Using a small step pallet knife, spread white icing evenly over the cake - you may not need all the icing, it depends how thick you want it.
• Next, scatter with cooled toasted flaked almonds and allow to set before portioning.
• Serve at room temperature with a cuppa of your choice, you can’t go wrong.