Sit down with Jane Dunn’s delicious blueberry lime loaf cake this summer

A slice of this with a cup of tea is the dream, writes Ella Walker

Baking with blueberries always brings out their flavour and creates a delicious texture

“When you bake with fruit, you often get beautiful colours dotted throughout the bakes,” says baker Jane Dunn. “Combining berry and citrus flavours is always delicious too… lemon and raspberry, blackberry and lemon, or as in this cake, blueberry and lime. I adore it.

“Baking with blueberries always brings out their flavour and creates a delicious texture, and when topped with a simple buttercream frosting it’s even better.”

Blueberry lime loaf cake from Jane’s Patisserie

Ingredients:(Serves 8-10)

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

200g self-raising flour, plus

1tbsp for dusting

4 eggs

Zest of 1 lime

200g fresh or frozen blueberries

Buttercream:

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature250g icing sugarJuice of 1 lime

For the decoration:

100g blueberriesLime zest

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan and grease and line a 900g loaf tin with parchment paper.

2. Put the butter and caster sugar into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the self-raising flour, eggs and lime zest to the bowl, and mix again until combined.

3. Put the tablespoon of plain flour into a bowl and add the blueberries, mixing until they are coated (this stops the blueberries all sinking to the bottom of the cake). Fold the blueberries through the cake mixture, then pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50–55 minutes, or until baked through. Remove the cake from the oven, and leave to cool fully in the tin while you make the buttercream.

4. Add the butter to a bowl and beat on its own for a few minutes to loosen and soften. Add the icing sugar and beat again until combined. Finally, add the lime juice and beat again.

5. Pipe or spread the buttercream onto the loaf cake, then sprinkle over the blueberries and lime zest.

CUSTOMISE: The blueberries can be swapped for any other berry you like, such as raspberries or blackberries.

The lime can also be switched for another citrus fruit, such as orange or lemon.

If you don’t want to make a buttercream topping, make a lime drizzle instead by mixing 200g icing sugar with three to four tablespoons of lime juice.

Jane’s Patisserie by Jane Dunn is published by Ebury Press, priced £20. Photography by Ellis Parrinder. Available August 5.