Blueberry and lime drizzle cake (2 colours)

Ingredients
Butter - 225 g, softened
Golden caster sugar - 225 g
Eggs - 4
Limes - 2, juice & grated zest
Self raising flour - 250 g
Ground almonds - 25 g
Blueberries - 200 g

For the syrup:
Lime juice - 8 tbsp
Lime - 1, grated zest
Golden caster sugar - 140 g

Methods
1) Line an 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour towards the end to prevent curdling. Beat in the zest of two limes, then fold in the flour and ground almonds. Stir in the juice of the two limes.
3) Add three quarters of the blueberries to the bowl, stir gently and turn into the prepared tin. Smooth the surface, then scatter the remaining fruit on top - it will sink as the cake rises (I must remember to do this with my blueberry cake because the fruit usually sinks to the bottom).
4) Bake for about 1 hour (cover with foil if beginning to brown too much), or until a skewer comes out clean.
5) Meanwhile make the syrup - add the lime juice, zest and sugar to a small saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick all over with a skewer then pour over the syrup. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin. Cut into squares when cool. Serves 16.

Blueberry, lemon and coconut traybake (2 colours)

Ingredients
Butter - 300 g
Caster sugar  - 400 g
Lemon - grated zest of 1
Eggs - 6
Self-raising flour - 250 g
Blueberries - 300 g
Lemon curd - 200 g
Dessicated coconut - 200 g

Methods
1) Beat together 250g of the butter with 250g of the sugar and the lemon zest.
2) In a separate bowl beat four of the eggs, then gradually beat into the butter and sugar mixture, adding a spoonful of flour if it begins to curdle. Fold in the flour and a third of the blueberries, then spoon into a 20 x 30 cm cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. My cake overflowed a little during the last five minutes so if your tin is shallow like mine make sure that the greaseproof paper reaches a little higher than the sides of the tin.
3) Flatten the surface with a spatula, sprinkle over another third of the blueberries, and bake for 20 minutes at 180°C until the surface is set.
4) Melt the rest of the butter in a small pan. Stir in the coconut and remaining sugar and eggs. Warm the lemon curd gently for a few mins in a small pan until it is runny and pourable (this was so easy I'll be doing it for my lemon drizzle cake in future).
5) Remove the cake from the oven. Scatter over the remaining blueberries and then drizzle over the lemon curd. Top with the coconut mixture and bake for a further 20-25 mins until the coconut is golden. Leave to cool and then cut into squares. Makes about 15 squares.

Blueberry cake with cheesecake frosting (1 colour)

This easy-to-make cake looks beautiful and tastes absolutely delicious.


Ingredients
Self-raising flour - 225 g
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Golden caster sugar - 175 g
Butter - 175 g, warmed to room temperature
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp
Eggs - 3 large
Soured Cream - 4 tbsp
Fresh or frozen (defrosted) blueberries - 190 g

For the frosting:
Cream cheese (philadelphia) - 200 g
Soured cream - 1 dessert spoon
Icing sugar - 100g
Fresh blueberries - 150 g

Methods
1) Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the butter and beat for a couple of minutes. Add the vanilla essence and eggs and mix well.
2) Beat in the soured cream and then gently stir in the blueberries.
3) Pour the mixture into a round 22cm loose-bottomed cake tin, spread it level and bake at 180°C for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool the cake for a few minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.
4) When the cake has cooled completely, mix together the cream cheese, soured cream and icing sugar in a bowl. Spread on top of the cake and scatter the blueberries on top. Keep the cake in the fridge, but remove an hour before serving. Serves 8.