Mini Lemon and Blueberry Loaf Cakes..

I recently made these little Lemon and Blueberry Loaf cakes, they are very different to the normal layered cakes I make but I loved how dainty they were! It was also nice to rather than simply have a glaze (which is the tradition for loaf cakes) to be able to pipe onto them. I was really happy with the overall look, and they tasted incredible!

I filled them with a Lemon and Blueberry MarmaJam that was made by The Bay Tree, its part of their new range of MarmaJams, that 'deliver the sweet taste of jam with the tangy after-bite of a marmalade'. It comes in two flavours, the lemon and blueberry I used and also a strawberry and orange. It's totally delicious as a filling in these cakes but if you don't have the time to bake, I'm sure it would still be perfect on a slice of toast! {https://www.thebaytree.co.uk/marmajam}

Heres the recipe..

Ingredients (serves 12):

For the cakes:

225g Self-Raising Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

4 Eggs

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

2 Lemons

For the filling:

100g of Blueberry and Lemon Marmajam

For the decoration:

400g icing sugar

200g butter

2tsp vanilla extract

2tsp milk

blue & purple food colour gel

75g blueberries

The Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 106°C.

2. Prepare the loaf cases, by putting them into a baking tray.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale, light in colour.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and then add this to the creamed butter and sugar mix.

5. Then move on to grate and juice 1 and 1/2 lemons (reserve half the rind of the lemon for decoration) and add to the mixture.

6. Gradually add the beaten eggs, making sure all is combined before adding the next.

7. Divide the mixture between the mini loaf cases equally.

8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Leave the cakes to cool before piping.

The Filling:

1. When the cakes are cooled, use a sharp knife to cut a upside-down, cone shape out the top of the cake.

2. Fill the hole in the loaf cake with the blueberry and lemon marmajam and then place the cut out cake back on top.

The Decoration:

1. Beat the butter until paler in colour and light in texture.

2. Add vanilla and mix until it is combined.

3. Then add the icing sugar gradually and mix.

4. Add a teaspoon of milk until the icing reaches the perfect consistency.

5. If preferred colour with a part blue, part purple food colour.

6. Pipe onto the cooled cakes using a wilton 2D piping tip.

7. Decorate with fresh blueberries and a thin slice of lemon rind.