Blueberry, Almond and Lemon Cake
Yotam Ottolenghi's famous lemon cake from Ottolenghi Simple.
Servings 8 people
Cost 5
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing loaf pan
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (90 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon salt (I used ¼ )
- 1 cup almond flour (110 grams)
- 3 large eggs
- 10 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter softened (150 grams)
- 1 scant cup superfine granulated sugar (190 grams)
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries frozen work in a pinch
- ⅔ cup confectioners’ sugar ( I used more like 90 grams) 70 grams
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan with butter and line with a strip of parchment paper. Grease parchment. If you want to, you can dust with a little almond flour.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and almond flour. Make sure to whisk thoroughly to get out any lumps. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs for about 1 minute. Transfer to a glass measuring cup or another bowl.
- In the same bowl that you used to beat the eggs (no need to clean it), combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest , only 1 tablespoon of the juice and the vanilla extract. Using the paddle attachment beat until light and fluffy – about 4 minutes. Start at medium and progress to high, stopping occasionally to scrape side of the bowl.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute, then reduce mixer speed to medium. With mixture going, add beaten egg about 2 tablespoons at a time (small increments). Alternatively, pour it in gradually just letting it stream down the side of the bowl.
- On low speed and still with the paddle attachment, stir in the dry mixture in three additions, until fully blended and no flour streaks remain. Remove bowl from stand and fold in ¾ cup of the berries. If using frozen berries, don't fold them in yet.
- Tranfer the batter to the loaf pan. If using frozen berries, scrape some batter into the pan, then manually place berries over the batter. Add another layer of batter and berries. This is to prevent excess seeping of juice.
- Put the pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove pan, then sprinkle the remaining blueberries over the top of the cake. Return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, until cake is golden brown. Cover loosely with foil and continue to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until risen and cooked. Remove from oven and set aside in its pan to cool for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan and placing on a wire rack to cool completely. Note: Don't be tempted to take the cake out too early. If you used frozen berries you may need another 10 minutes. It's probably better overbake this than to underbake.
- Prepare the icing. Put the confectioners' sugar in a bowl or better yet, a 2 cup glass measure. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice and mix well. Continue adding lemon juice and stirring until the icing is smooth and pourable. Whisk together lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Pour over the cake and gently spread out. The blueberries on the top of the cake may bleed into the icing (They sure will!) a little, but this will add to the look. Let icing set, then slice and serve.
Notes
This cake is so good. Next time I might try it with lime juice and a little cardamom.