I've seen cakes decorated like this for years now, a delicious sponge topped with sprigs of mint and blueberries, The College Housewife being the main inspiration behind this bake. It's not often I experiment with blueberries in baking, but I was craving a flavoursome sheet cake with a generous layer of buttercream, so I decided to head to the kitchen to see what I could whip up.
My specifications for a sheet cake is that it has to be light and fluffy, but also have quite a sizeable height to the sponge which most sheet cakes don't offer. This is why I use a 7x10 inch baking dish over the traditional larger size pan as it means it has a good rise. This cake is moreish and perfect to take to gatherings and parties.
Ingredients (Serves 10)
For the cake;
200g butter or margarine
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
250g self raising flour
100g blueberries
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1tsp Vanilla Extract
For the buttercream;
180g butter
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
Blueberries and mint for the topping
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ยบ and Line a 7x10 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. One by one, add the eggs into the mixture.
Add the zest and juice of 1 lemon, along with your vanilla extract.
Sift in the flour and fold in gently.
Cover the blueberries with a 1tbsp of flour which will make the fruit less soggy and less likely to sink in the cake. Add the blueberries to the mixture and stir gently.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake for 40 minutes or until it's golden on top.
Leave the sponge to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Mix together your butter, icing sugar and lemon juice until it's thick, but easy enough to spread.
Spread over the completely cooled sponge and top with blueberries and mint for decoration.
Enjoy!
