Blueberry and Lemon Cake with Blueberry Sauce
A soft lemon sponge dotted with blueberries, baked tall in one tin and served with a warm blueberry sauce that sinks gently into each slice.
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Prep
- 25 min
- Bake
- 55 min
- Level
- Medium
- Serves
- 10
- Tin
- 20 cm springform
Lemon zest gives the sponge its fragrance, while buttermilk and a little lemon juice keep the crumb soft around the blueberries. The berries leave small pockets of purple juice without turning the whole cake wet.
The batter is deeper than a standard sandwich sponge, so give it the full, slower bake. Check the middle rather than judging by the golden top, which will colour before the centre has finished cooking.
Ingredients
For one 20 cm springform, serves 10
For the cake
For the blueberry sauce
You will need
- 20 cm round springform cake tin, at least 7 cm deep
- Baking parchment
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
- Balloon whisk
- Electric hand whisk
- Flexible spatula
- Fine grater
- Small saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Wire cooling rack
- Cake skewer
Oven
175°C fan 155°C 345°F
Method
Oven 175°C · fan 155°C · 345°F
Prepare the tin and dry ingredients
Heat the oven to 175C, 155C fan. Grease the base and sides of a 20 cm springform tin, line the base with baking parchment and fit a tall strip of parchment around the inside. Put the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture looks evenly pale and no little lumps of raising agent remain. Set it aside.
Cream the butter, sugar and eggs
Beat the softened butter and caster sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk until pale, fluffy and visibly lighter than when you started. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the finely grated lemon zest. The mixture should look thick and creamy, with tiny yellow flecks throughout.
Fold in the flour and blueberries
Stir the buttermilk and lemon juice together in a jug. Add half the flour mixture to the creamed butter and eggs, folding gently with a spatula, then add the buttermilk mixture. Fold in the remaining flour until only a few pale streaks are visible. Add the blueberries and turn the batter over them gently until they are distributed. The finished batter should be thick, softly dropping from the spatula, with whole berries held throughout it.
Fill the cake tin
Spoon the batter into the lined springform tin and spread it towards the edges with the spatula. Level the surface without pressing the air out. The batter should sit in a thick, even layer, with a few blueberries visible beneath its creamy yellow surface. Give the tin a gentle tap on the worktop to settle any large air pockets.
Bake the cake
Place the tin on the middle shelf and bake for 52 to 60 minutes. The cake should rise into a gently domed, golden top with a deeper golden edge and a light lemon scent. Check that a skewer pushed into the middle comes out with a few damp crumbs, and the top springs back when pressed lightly. If the surface is colouring too quickly before the middle is cooked, lay a loose sheet of foil over it for the remaining baking time.
Make the blueberry sauce
Leave the baked cake to rest for 20 minutes in the tin. While it cools, put the sauce blueberries, caster sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan. Stir the cornflour into the cold water until smooth, then add it to the pan. Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring gently, until the berries begin to burst and release their purple juice. Let the sauce bubble gently until glossy and lightly thickened, with some berries still holding their shape. Take it off the heat and leave it warm.
Release the cake
Once the cake has spent 20 minutes in the tin, run a thin knife around the edge where needed and carefully open the springform clasp. Lift away the ring and peel off the parchment collar. Transfer the whole cake to a wire rack and leave it until barely warm. Its sides should be evenly golden, with a firm outer crust and a gently domed top that feels springy rather than damp.
Cut and serve
Move the cake to a serving board and cut into generous wedges with a sharp knife. Lift one wedge onto a plate so the pale golden crumb and scattered purple blueberries are visible. Bring the warm sauce to the table separately and spoon it over each slice as it is served. The sauce should flow over the cut face and gather lightly around the base without hiding the sponge.
Baker's notes
- Use fresh blueberries for the cake batter. Frozen berries release more colour as they thaw and can leave purple streaks through the sponge. Frozen berries work well in the sauce.
- The parchment collar matters with a deep sponge. It supports the batter as it rises and makes the springform ring easier to remove without pulling at the sides.
- For a smoother sauce, mash some of the softened blueberries against the side of the saucepan before taking it off the heat. Leave a few whole berries for texture.
- The cake can be baked the day before serving. Keep the sauce separately and warm it gently before bringing it to the table.
- Allergens: contains dairy, egg and gluten. The recipe contains no added nuts or alcohol. Check packaged ingredients if baking for someone with an allergy.
Keeping it Keep the cooled cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 4 days and bring the slices to room temperature before serving. Refrigerate the blueberry sauce separately in a covered container for up to 4 days and reheat gently. The unsauced cake can be wrapped and frozen for up to 2 months.
Questions, answered
Can I use frozen blueberries in the cake?
Fresh berries give the neatest crumb, but frozen blueberries can be used without thawing. Fold them in straight from the freezer and expect a little more purple streaking around the fruit.
Can I replace the buttermilk with ordinary milk?
Buttermilk is the better choice because its acidity works with the bicarbonate of soda and gives the crumb a softer texture. Plain, unsweetened natural yoghurt loosened with a little milk is a closer substitute than ordinary milk alone.
Can I make the blueberry sauce without cornflour?
Yes. Leave out the cornflour and cook the fruit mixture gently for longer until some of the liquid has evaporated. The sauce will be looser and have a more fruit-led texture, but it will still work over the slices.
Can I use bottled lemon juice?
Fresh lemon juice has a cleaner taste here, particularly in the warm sauce. Bottled juice can replace it in the batter, but use fresh lemons for the zest because that is where much of the sponge's lemon fragrance comes from.
Can I freeze individual slices?
Yes. Wrap the unsauced slices separately once completely cold and place them in a freezer-safe container. Thaw them while still wrapped so condensation forms on the wrapping rather than on the crumb. Make or warm the sauce separately when serving.
If it goes wrong
- It sank in the middleSeven causes, told apart by the shape of the crater.
- It came out raw in the centreBrown outside, wet inside, and how to rescue the one you are holding.
- The caramel seizedIt is almost always fixable. The lump re-melts.
