Blueberry Lemon Loaf

When summer gets in full swing, and the sunshine comes out in full force, I find that the way people bake changes. There is more variety of delicious fruits calling to be eaten – strawberries, raspberries, passion-fruits, cherries – offering with them colour and vibrancy and juice. Then when it heats up outside, people want to have less hot ovens heating up the kitchen and more time outside soaking up the rays. Especially here in England, where its not rare to have one week of boiling heat-wave sun in the summer and then cooler grey days the rest. Me, I love baking too much to forget about it for the whole summer season. Sure, I want to start embracing more summery dishes on here soon (read – ice cream!) but today, its cake. Who doesn’t like a cake?  Especially this cake. Taking advantage of fresh summer blueberries, with a backdrop of lemon to add zing. Super sweet lemon icing drizzled over the top, the crackly sugar topping peaking through. Gorgeous! Making this cake feels like making one huge blueberry muffin because its the same technique – mixing the wet ingredients (buttermilk, butter, eggs, lemon) into the dry (flour, sugar, berries) and then taking huge-nervous care not to over mix.  It was super easy to make and the only hard part is waiting whilst it cooks and cools. This cake ended up being a family effort: I mixed, my sister poured it into the tin, my Mum cut us all hearty slices and my Dad unknowingly ate the slice that had fallen on the floor… :) A slice of this purple-studded beauty was just the ticket after spending too long in the sun and coming in just a tad too pink rather than the intended glowing tan… Find the recipe here, make one of the last big cakes for a while, and eat with pleasure!