Lemon Bundt Cake with Sugared Blueberries
Hi friends, happy Friday! I’m a little late to post this week, but I’m just not up to the task of holding myself accountable right now. Besides, I’m a big fan of the phrase ‘better late than never’. Today, I want to share with you this adorable little Lemon Bundt Cake that I made as an early Mother’s Day bake! It’s a lil’ cutie, made in a 4-cup bundt tin, and if your mom is anything like mine then this is the perfect token of baked love. No seriously: does your mom like lemon cake? My mom adores a good lemon cake – or anything lemony, honestly – and I’m convinced it’s a mom thing; I’ve never met a mom who didn’t love a lemon cake!
Why make Lemon Bundt Cake with Sugared Blueberries?
I mean, other than the fact that it’s so cute, here’s why you should make this Lemon Bundt Cake:
• it’s small batch! What with lockdown in place, I didn’t want to bake a huge cake that would be a struggle to finish if you live in a 1-2 person household. This little cutie serves 4-people generously, and I’m positive you won’t have any problems with leftovers. If you don’t have a small bundt tin, this would work perfectly in a 6-inch cake tin.
• it isn’t all that sweet. Most of the sweetness comes from the icing and the sugared blueberries, which although optional, are so delicious.
• the sugared blueberries! They’re so cute and the perfect accompaniment for the lemony flavour of the cake. They’re also a super easy cake garnish to have up your sleeve!
If that isn’t enough, please see my opening paragraph about how all mothers love lemon cake.
How to make Lemon Bundt Cake
You better believe that I took step by step photos – let’s bake!
Two important first steps: an extra greased and floured bundt tin, and our ingredient mise en place. Bundt tins – especially older ones without the lovely lining the newer ones have – are notorious for sticking to the cake and ruining the end product when you try to invert. Not on my watch! Two layers of butter, and a dusting of flour for good measure.
Ingredient mise en place is key for baking because it means we won’t forget to add anything. This happens more than any baker would care to admit. I speak from experience.
We start by mixing our dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In this case, that’s just a quick whisk together of the flour and baking powder.
In a small bowl – and yes perhaps my bowl was too small – we mix together our fats and our lemon zest. This cake uses both double cream and melted butter because mothers deserve a little luxury this weekend, wouldn’t you agree?
In a third & final bowl, a larger one, we use an electric whisk to beat together our eggs and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
Next, we add in our cream/butter mixture + lemon juice and whisk until combined. At this stage, the mixture can look a bit curdled – that’s okay! It’s just because we’re combining fat with fat with fat (butter with cream with eggs) for extra flavour. Whisk on as best you can, but don’t panic: as soon as we fold in the flour everything comes together perfectly.
The batter goes into our prepared bundt tin, and bakes up in about 25-minutes. I like to leave my bundts to cool in the tin for 10-minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Do not, I repeat: do not leave your bundt to cool entirely in the tin – you will never get it out in one piece!
When it comes out it’ll be fragrant and reminiscent of childhood bake sales – or maybe that’s just me?
How to make Sugared Blueberries
aka: how to make the easiest cake garnish ever.
We need to make the sugared blueberries right before we’re ready to put them on the cake. If you make them beforehand, they start to absorb the sugar and the colour runs. The taste will be unaffected, but they’ll be slightly less cute.
Mise en place: blueberries, sugar syrup, and sugar. I didn’t measure the syrup or the sugar because it’s kind of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ situation.
To make sugar syrup, I do a 1:1 ratio of boiling water mixed with caster sugar and chill it down before using. We like to keep a jar of syrup in the fridge for adding to drinks.
Using a spoon or your fingers – or a cute but weird two pronged fork-like thing you found in your drawer – dip the blueberries one at a time into the sugar syrup, and shake off any excess. The syrup dipped blueberry is then rolled in caster sugar until fully coated. Move the berry to a plate and repeat with the remaining berries.
Sugared blueberries! Aren’t they so cute? I’m obsessed.
I didn’t take any photos of the icing making process – you just put everything in a jug and mix it together. If you’re after a thicker icing than the one photographed below, add more icing sugar! These are lockdown times and anything goes.
Icing sugar gets poured over our cooled cake, and the icing sugar is topped with our sugared blueberries. It’s all a bit retro and ugly looking, but ugly things can still be delicious.
I hope you bake it and I hope your mom loves it!
Happy baking, friends! xo
Lemon Bundt Cake with Sugared Blueberries
INGREDIENTS
for the cake
- 75 g salted butter, melted
- 30 mls double cream
- zest from 1 lemon
- 90 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 90 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
for the sugared berries
- scant 1/3 cup blueberries
- sugar syrup
- caster sugar
for the icing
- 60 g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/2 tbsp double cream/milk
- zest of 1/2 lemon
DIRECTIONS
for the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heavily grease and flour a 4-cup bundt tin; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the melted butter with the cream and the lemon zest; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and the baking powder with a whisk; set aside.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and the butter mixture, beating until fully combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry flour mixture through this until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt tin and bake in the preheated oven for 25-minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
for the sugared blueberries
- One at a time, dip the blueberries into the sugar syrup and allow any excess to drip off. Drop the coated berries gently into the caster sugar and roll around to coat. Repeat with the remaining berries and set aside until needed.
for the icing
- Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and beat until smooth. Add more lemon juice if you'd like a runnier consistency, or more icing sugar if you'd like a stiffer icing.
to finish
- Pour the icing over the cooled bundt and top with the sugared berries. Allow to sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
NOTES
- make sure your bundt tin is super greased with butter – we don’t want any incidents of the batter sticking to the tin!
- if you need to make sugar syrup, it’s a 1:1 ratio of boiling water mixed with caster sugar. Allow to cool before using to coat the berries.
- do not allow the cake to cool completely in the tin, otherwise you won’t be able to get it out smoothly!
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to know! Please leave a comment & a rating below, or tag me on Instagram @imvcki. Thank you so much for supporting Passionate Baker!
