lemon & blueberry teacakes

I definitely take after my parents and love looking for a bargain but to give credit where it's due, mum found this mini bundt tin when she went shopping on a weekend at Aldi and I absolutely love it! It's probably a couple of months back now when Aldi had these on special and they were only $4 each. There were a few other different shapes which mum kindly bagged for me and well, they've been sitting on my shelf waiting to be used. Well, what better way to test the bundt pan than with the recipe for lemon & blueberry teacakes I found in 'The Ottolenghi Cookbook'!

The quality of the pan is fantastic (I forget the brand now) but the thickness and sturdiness of the pan is comparable to your Baker's Secret & Wiltshire pans. Start by preheating the oven to 170 degrees. Leave the 6 hole mini bundt pan and 1 large bundt pan in the fridge for a few minutes, then remove and brush with plenty of melted butter. Return them to the fridge.

In a large bowl, cream together 280g unsalted butter and 280g caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Break 5 eggs into a cup and mix lightly with a fork, gradually add the eggs to the butter mix, beating well until each addition has been fully incorporated. Once all the egg is incorporated, gently fold in 280g ground almonds and 65g plain flour. Add in the grated zest of 2 lemons, 100ml lemon juice (which works out to be the juice of 2 lemons) and 120g fresh blueberries. Be extra gentle when you fold in the blueberries so they don't break.

Take the moulds from the fridge. Spoon the mixture into the tins, reaching all the way up to the edge. You will fill exact 1 large bundt tin and make an additional 6 mini bundt cakes. Bake the small cakes in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, the large cake will take roughly 50 minutes. 

Best way to check if they're ready is to test with a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake, making sure it comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them in their tins for 10 minutes.

Then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

The recipe in the cookbook actually also has a lemon glaze which I thought was unnecessary. You'll end up gobbling up the cakes in the time it takes to make the glaze and this is literally what happened. I started eating one, then I had one cousin come over, I sent them home with 4 mini bundts, my aunt and mum shared one, then another cousin comes over and I send them home with the big bundt.

The texture of this cake is deliciously moist and there is a good pairing of the sour of the lemons with the sweet of the blueberries. My uncle tells me that the big bundt was gobbled up overnight as it was that delicious; I would've been keen to see how the texture of the big bundt turned out and whether it had cooked evenly.

Well mum is keen on me making this one again because she's a big fan of citrus flavours (lemon is probably her favourite) and well, after dividing the bakes amongst the various family members, we all ended up having very little. It's a good thing that berries have been reasonably cheap lately so costwise it won't be too expensive and to be quite honest, it's a real luxury to use fresh blueberries for baking. It's not like using frozen blueberries where you have them defrosting as you mix streaking the cake with colour and then subsequently leaving the cake a little undercooked/running when the frozen water seaps out during baking. Fingers crossed that berries stay cheap for a little longer!