Lemon curd and blueberry loaf cake, with yoghurt icing.

Long title or what? But this cake deserves it. I'm pretty sure that loaf cakes have taken over my life. There is something just so delicious about them and there's not a dry crumb in sight. 

If you saw my last day in photos post you would have seen a sneaky picture of this cake. I made it as dessert for Mother's day Sunday lunch. It went down really well and I'm pretty sure if we weren't so stuffed from a huge Sunday roast we could have happily polished off the rest of the cake there and then. Although there is something lovely about having left over cake the next day with a big cuppa tea. 

After this post there's is going to be a lot of Easter posts. It's not that far away and for once in the whole five years we have been together the Mr has got me an Easter egg. Only because they were 99p. But still it's the thought that counts! I'm also very jealous of him. He gets two weeks off now for Easter while I slave away at work. Not fair. 

Anyway onto the cake. It is the perfect weekend bake. So dust down those loaf tins and get baking. 

You will need:

175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

200ml tub Greek yogurt (you need 100ml in the cake, the rest for icing)

2 tbsp jar good lemon curd 

3 eggs

zest and juice 1 lemon,

200g self-raising flour

175g golden caster sugar

punnet of blueberries 

140g icing sugar

edible flowers decorations.

Heat oven to 160ºC/gas 3. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking parchment.

 Put 100g yogurt, 2 tbsp lemon curd, the softened butter, eggs, lemon zest, flour and caster sugar into a large mixing bowl. Quickly mix with an electric whisk until the batter just comes together. Scrape half into the prepared tin. 

Sprinkle some of the blueberries into the tin, scrape the rest of the batter on top, then scatter the other half of the berries on top (leaving some to serve). Bake for 1 hr 10 mins-1 hr 15 mins until golden, and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin, then carefully lift onto a serving plate to ice. 

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in enough lemon juice and the rest of the greek yoghurt to make a thick, smooth icing

Spread over the top of the cake, then decorate with edible flowers, if you like. 

Serve with a good cuppa.

Lemon drizzle loaf cake.

It's someone's birthday today. A whole three days after mine. A whole two days before Valentines and then a whole 15 days before our anniversary. February is an expensive month in our household. I spent this morning baking this beauty. I knew that I would have to bake something "lemony" as I know it always goes down a treat and I have a bit of a thing for loaf cakes at the minute, especially after the marble cake, that was just too good! 

We will be celebrating properly at the weekend as work and uni are getting in the way today. I treated the Mr to a few lovely presents and we'll be spending some time together at the weekend.

There's something lovely about baking with lemons. It fills the kitchen with a clean smell and you just can't beat  it and how come if something is lemon flavoured it automatically feels lighter which in my mind makes it healthy. I think that's how it works. Any hoo onto the recipe.

Adapted from Bake and the City Lemon Drizzle Cake

You will need - 

125 g unsalted butter

175 g caster sugar

2 large eggs

zest of 1 lemon

175 g self raising flour

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk

For the syrup

juice of 1 ½ lemons

100 g caster sugar

For the glaze

juice of ½ a lemon

150 g icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180 C/ gas mark 4.

Butter and line your loaf tin well.

Cream together butter and sugar and add eggs and lemon zest, beating them in well.

Gently fold in the flour and the salt, mixing thoroughly and then add the milk.

Spoon the batter into your prepared tin and bake for 45 mins or until cake tester comes out clean.

For the syrup: Put the lemon juice and caster sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.

As soon as cake is out of oven, puncture all over with skewer and pour over the syrup.

Leave cake to cool completely before removing from the tin.

For the glaze: Combine lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth and white, add a little more icing sugar if needed. Make sure your cake is completely cool before drizzling with the glaze.