Fantastic blueberry and lemon cake

Blueberry and lemon cake combines two of my favourite fruits. Blueberries, with their deep purple colour, are rich in antioxidants and are so delicious. And lemons, one of my favourite fruits, works for savoury and sweet dishes, adding a brightness to food, bringing the dullest flavours to life and a zing to things like cakes.

This cake has evolved over a few years. In that time, I’ve made versions with yoghurt and buttermilk and they’ve been good, adding a tang to the finished cake. I now use sour cream, as I think it helps the lemon to sing more loudly, which is a good thing, right?

Feature recipe for ABC In Season

The recipe featured on ABC Hobart’s In Season with Lucie Cutting program on Sunday 9 November. I’ve been a regular guest of Lucie’s for In Season since March ’25 and have shared a different recipe each time. The goal is to feature an ingredient that is in season in Tasmania, Australia’s southern island state, so it’s been a wonderful way to stay connected with the place of my childhood.

Lucie kindly sends me the audio from our chats, and you can listen to the segment from 9 November by clicking this link.

I grew up on Tasmania’s fertile north west coast and lived in Hobart as an adult for many years, so understand Tasmania’s quirky seasons and how they differ to the rest of Australia. Because of its location, its spring/summer growing season tends to start later and be a bit shorter than here in Melbourne. But its pristine environment, clean air, fertile soils and amazing water quality give its fresh produce an edge.

That includes the lemon, and in Tasmania, these wonderful trees have escaped the scourge of the citrus gall wasps that invade the tree branches to lay their eggs. They’re a real problem on mainland Australia, but Tasmania is free of them and lemon trees grow abundantly across the state.

My favourite variety is the Lisbon, which is very tart and the trees have nasty spikes – best avoided when picking. Another very popular variety is the Meyer – less acidic and somewhat sweeter, it’s a beautiful fruit.

In the south, late spring sees berries, incredible stone fruits, especially cherries and apricots emerge in abundance. Roadside stalls and honesty boxes start appearing on country roads and pick-your-own farms open their doors to people seeking the freshest option possible.

Berry farms in the south include Old Beach Berries run by Cathryn and David, who grow the produce without use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. This image of berries on the bush is taken at their farm one day while picking with family.

Since moving away from Tasmania, I’ve realised how amazing its new season potatoes are too (and don’t they go well with lemon!), such as Pinkeyes that are perfect for roasting and salads, Bismarks – perfect when they’re fresh from the ground, simply boiled and served with butter, salt and pepper.

Other Tasmanian varieties are Kennebecs, which make fantastic roast potatoes and home-made chips and if you’re in the north of the state, you can’t beat the Brownell for the best mash ever. I grew up on these beauties and my Mum made the fluffiest, smoothest, creamiest mashed potatoes of all time. She also knew how to roast potatoes to perfection, and being of Irish descent, she cooked potatoes on an almost daily basis.

But I digress.

Back to the lemon and blueberry goodness

While relatively easy, the things to note about this cake are to:

• make sure the eggs are at room temperature and add them to the well creamed butter and sugar to reduce risk of curdling
• make it in a bundt pan if you have one, as it does tend to sink in the middle
• coat the berries in flour, as it’s supposed to stop them sinking to the bottom, but I’m guessing it works better with fresh berries, not frozen ones.

Like baking? Try this citrus delight

Keep the citrus theme going with my amazing Orange Poppyseed Syrup Cake. A guest at afternoon tea once called it out as the best cake she’d ever eaten! Make the syrup with blood oranges when in season for a gorgeous burst of colour.

Fantastic blueberry and lemon cake

Recipe by Marti CuattCourse: Afternoon TeaCuisine: Cake bakingDifficulty: Some skill

Servings

12

generous slices

Prep time

20

minutes

Baking time

1

hour 

15

minutes

A delicious treat that’s perfect with a cup of tea or freshly brewed coffee.

You will need

• 3 cups (450g) self raising flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 3 eggs, at room temperature

• 1¾ cups (375g) golden caster sugar (white is fine too)

• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes

• 1 cup (250ml) sour cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (or more if you like)

• 2 tablespoons strained lemon juice

• 250g fresh or frozen blueberries + 2 tbsp plain flour for dusting

Here’s what to do

• Preheat the oven to 175C (fan forced).
• Prepare a 23cm round springform pan with baking paper (to allow for rising). Or butter a Bundt pan and lightly dust with flour.
• Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl, then set aside until needed.
• Mix sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest and juice together and set aside.
• Add the butter and sugar to a stand mixer bowl (or other large mixing bowl) and beat
• until smooth, light and creamy, about 10 minutes. Remember to scrape the sides now and then so everything is evenly combined.
• Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk lightly with a fork, then add to the butter
• mixture about a third at a time, beating well between each addition.
• Turn the beaters down to low and add 1/3 of the sifted flour. Mix well then add 1/3 sour cream and continue alternating flour/sour cream until all the ingredients are combined and there’s no flour unmixed. If the mixture seems a bit too thick, add some milk or more sour cream to loosen slightly.
• Stop mixing and remove the bowl from the stand.
• Toss the blueberries in the extra flour. Tip them into the batter and gently stir them
• through with a metal spoon.
• Transfer the mixture to the prepared cake tin and place in the oven. Check it after 45 minutes and keep cooking until it’s cooked through. It will probably take about 1 1/4 hours to cook.
• When done, remove from the oven and let it stand in the tin for five minutes before freeing it
• from the pan and removing the baking paper. Allow to cool completely.
• To serve, transfer it to a stand cake plate and fill the middle with fresh berries, then dust with icing sugar.

Tips and tricks

• The cake tends to sink in the middle, so do use a bundt pan if you have one to make a nice ring cake.
• I generally use golden caster sugar for baking, but white is fine.
• This cake freezes well, so slice it up and freeze for later treats. Zap in the microwave to thaw and warm up for eating.