Blueberry & Lemon Pound Cake

Jan 31

This classic Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake is soft, lemony & moist, with bursts of little blueberry pocket in every bite. Zingy enough to lighten the mood with the most glorious cream cheese frosting. This cake tastes like a warm cosy hug in a bite.

Can you believe this is a fridge clean out cake? Somehow I never get inclined towards making a blueberry lemon cake, even though I do quite enjoy them. Well, this cake was written in the stars so who am I to argue with it eh? But in all seriousness, this cake was not at all planned. It was born out of fridge scraps that either needed to be used up asap or get binned. Wasting food is never a good idea so cake it was. I just happened to have:

three half eaten tubs of blueberries (blame Jack) that were maybe a little past their prime
half a lemon that needed to be juiced asap
small bits of cream cheese and mascarpone that needed to be used within a day
a big splash of heavy cream on the way out

Told you, written in the stars. It’d be a crime not to make this cake.

This is one of those cakes you really can’t go wrong with. It’s a simple pound cake, meaning each of the main ingredients-eggs, sugar, flour and fat are typically in equal proportions. I have, however, tweaked the recipe to suit what I’m looking for. The result is a soft, moist cake bursting with flavour.

While this recipe is pretty straight-forward and not different than most cakes, here are a few pointers to make sure you get it 100% right:

using ingredients at room temperature that specifically ask for it. If a recipe calls for certain ingredient at room temp (in this case, butter and eggs), it’s for a reason- most commonly emulsification. Emulsification happens best between 27-32°C, which is why this is important. I’ve made it a habit to mention the temperatures going forward as everybody’s room temperature will differ.
make sure to emulsify well. If you don’t mix your eggs well, yes your batter will eventually look smooth once you add in the flour, but the final cake will be shorter (and slightly denser) due to lack of proper structure.
do not over-mix. I know this is a no-brainer, but just gotta reiterate it.

And that’s really all. This is a great base recipe you can use for other flavour pairings too.

Recipe

Serve: 1 loaf cake

Ingredients

For the pound cake:

65g unsalted butter, soft at room temperature (30°C)
25g olive oil
155g caster sugar
zest of 1 big lemon
100g eggs, at room temperature (30°C)
150g plain flour
5g baking powder
1g salt
60g heavy cream
25g lemon juice
120g fresh blueberries
10g demerara sugar
pinch of salt
small pinch of cinnamon powder

For the lemon-vanilla syrup:

30g water
10g lemon juice
20g caster sugar
1/4 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

For the cream cheese frosting:

135g cream cheese, at room temperature
62g mascarpone (or sub more cream cheese)*
35g heavy cream
23g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla paste
extra fresh blueberries, for garnish
lemon zest, for garnish

Method

For the cake:

Grease and line a 9” loaf tin with parchment paper. Keep aside.
Preheat oven to 170°C.
In a small bowl, combine the demerara sugar, pinch of salt and cinnamon powder. Mix. Keep aside.
In a medium bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Keep aside.
Combine the heavy cream and lemon juice together. Keep aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, add the butter, olive oil, sugar and lemon zest. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture looks fluffy and pale in colour.
Add the eggs and beat for another 2-3 minutes until well emulsified.
Add the dry ingredients and mix on very low speed until just combined.
With the mixer running, stream in the cream-lemon juice mix. Mix until just combined.
Add in the blueberries and mix using a spatula.
Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf tin. Spread the batter with the spatula and even it out. Sprinkle the demarara sugar mix on top.
Bake for 50-55 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the lemon-vanilla syrup:

Meanwhile, while the cake is baking, prepare the syrup: In a small pot, add the water, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla (if using bean, you can add the seeds and the pod). Bring to a boil.
Once the cake is out of the oven, poke a few holes using a skewer. Soak the cake with the syrup. Allow to cool completely.

For the cream cheese frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until soft and no lumps remain.
Add the mascarpone, heavy cream, icing sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks. Refrigerate until use.

Assembly:

Once the cake has cooled down, slather the cream cheese frosting on top.
Use a spoon to make a few swirls. Garnish with fresh blueberries and lemon zest. Serve at room temperature for best textures. Enjoy!

Notes:

*- if you use all cream cheese, the frosting will be slightly denser and heavier in texture.

If you enjoyed that and tried it at home, please tag me at @myyummyspatula on Instagram so that I can see all your bakes! For more BTS stories, updates and fun, you can follow along here: