Summer Loving: Lime syrup cake with blackberries

 

One of the greatest things about summer is all the lovely fresh fruit. Since getting hitched and grocery shopping together (regularly) for the first time, we have been trying out different grocers. One of my favourites so far is Norton St Grocer and this is where we found these luscious blackberries. They looked so glossy, plump and juicy that I thought they were begging to be made into a cake. Of course, one of my favourite cakes came to mind and I figured i’d pop them into a lime syrup cake. That way, if I screwed them up somehow, at least I knew i’d like the cake in the end.

I just made the cake as usual and then pressed the berries into the cake batter before baking. They don’t need to be pushed in too far as the cake will rise around them and cover most of them by the time the cake is done cooking.

Then all you need to do is get some anger therapy by stabbing the still warm cake with a skewer so that the syrup can seep in properly. I used a huge bamboo skewer so the holes are really noticeable but its not meant to be a pretty cake, just utterly delicious.

See? Delicious butter cake infused with lime syrup and studded with fat little blackberries.

I made this cake to take on a picnic that we went on to celebrate the new year. I thought it worked well as a picnic cake because there was no messy icing to smoosh against the tupperware and the cake keeps well for several days in an airtight container so you can make it a few days ahead. In fact, this cake gets better with age. I would actually advocate for making this cake at least a day before you intend to eat it. That’s if you can wait that long! The lime syrup is seriously delicious.

So what berries are you all loving this Summer? And how sad are you that Summer is almost over? To be honest… i’m going to love it when the mercury finally dips below 20 at night and I can sleep properly again…

Lime Syrup Cake with Blackberries – Adapted From Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess

Ingredients

1 x punnet of blackberries or any other berry you desire
125g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lime
175g self raising flour
pinch of salt
4tbsp milk

Method

1. heat oven to 180 degrees celsius (fan forced) and line a medium sized loaf pan with grease proof paper
2. Cream butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy
3. Add the zest, then eggs one at a time, beating well after each
4. Fold in the flour and salt, then gently mix in the milk
5. Spoon the mixture into the pan and level off the top
6. Press the berries into the mixture (it doesn’t matter if they don’t go all the way in, the cake will rise around them to cover them)
7. Bake for 20-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out relatively clean
8. While the cake is cooling, stab it all over with a skewer so that the syrup can sink in

Lime Syrup Ingredients

4tbsp lime juice (or a little more if you’re like me and like your limes super zingy)
zest of 1 lime
100g icing sugar

Method

1. Place zest, lime juice and sugar into a small saucepan
2. Heat until the sugar has completely dissolved
3. Boil for another 2-3 minutes to thicken the syrup slightly
4. Slowly pour the syrup over the cake making sure to cover the surface evenly
5. Enjoy!