Summer berry lemon drizzle cake

Layering vanilla cake with summer fruit berries before baking gives this classic lemon drizzle cake a fresh summer makeover. 

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of fancy recipes lately. It happens sometimes, when my gastronomical ambition runs away with itself, without checking the actual time I have available (see peak-season roster, oops).

So I was refreshed to stumble upon this recipe from Waitrose’ summer collection, with its claim of a 15-min prep time and a list of ingredients that are staples even in our busy-people cupboards. (Edit – I do realise not everyone has a field of summer fruit in their cupboard. So let’s assume you’ve been picking when you read this.)

And – the fruit is so sweet from all the warm weather this season that I almost feel that the fancy recipes are hiding their glory. They really need little more than a drop of cream, or a simple tart to be strewn over.

But I also can’t resist a good looking cake. And, despite its simplicity, look how darn pretty this cake is!

The original recipe suggests using strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. We don’t grow blackberries so clearly I’m biased in favour of swapping them for blackcurrants. But also –  blackcurrants and lemon are a match made in tastebud heaven. Just check out the blackcurrant and lemon curd cake if you need convincing.

I really appreciated the simplicity of this cake. I can see it becoming a summer staple from here-on in.

Summer berry lemon drizzle cake

Ingredients

  • 175g butter, softened
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, or vanilla essence
  • 2 large eggs
  • 50g raspberries
  • 50g blackcurrants
  • 100g strawberries, hulled and sliced
  • 50g granulated sugar
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a large loaf tin (900g) and line with baking parchment.
  2. Whisk together the butter, caster sugar, flour, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
  3. Spread a third of the cake mixture into the base of the tin, then scatter over one third of the fruit. Repeat with another third of the cake mixture, and third of the fruit.
  4. Spread the final cake mixture into the tin, but reserve the final third of the fruit for decoration after baking.
  5. Bake for 1 hour, checking to see that a skewer comes out clean.
  6. Prick the cake with a skewer several times, and allow the cake to cool before removing it from the tin.
  7. When ready to serve, mix the remaining fruit with the granulated sugar and the lemon zest and juice, then spoon the mixture over the cake so the lemon drizzle soaks into the cake.

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