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Summer has not officially hit Seattle. I’m finding this very distressing. With only a handful of days of temperatures above 75, let alone 80, I’m taking in all of the summer I can in the form of fruit – aka crack of the earth. 
Between the endless cherries I’ve nommed on (how onomatopoetic is that word?), put into baked goods, forced down Ben’s throat it was time for a new fruit in the mix. Blueberries seemed like a flirty and fun next step in the summer berry lineup. 
What goes better with blueberries than a little zesty lemon? For this recipe I wanted to toss them both together in an artistic trifle of berry brilliance. 
For your grocery list include:
~ For Cake:


~ 6 Tablespoon Butter, room temp.

~ ½ cup Caster Sugar

~ 2 Large Eggs

~ 1 cup Self Raising Flour

~ 3 Tablespoon Whole Milk

~ 1 lemon, zested

~ For Jam:

~ 1 cup Blueberries

~ ½ cup Sugar

~ For Custard:

~ 2 Tablespoon Custard Powder (Bird’s is widely available)

~ 2 Tablespoon Sugar

~ 1 tsp. Vanilla

~ 2 cups Milk – and variety you want

~ Zest of 1 lemon


Like the baklava recipe, you want to make sure you concentrate the essence and gloriousness of the blueberry without watering down the cake. So we’re gonna be jammin’ it up right quick. Get it, jam? Yeah, you get it. Sorry, I’m in one of those moods today.


Combine 1 cup fresh blueberries and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat in a non stick saucepan. Stir and mash berries until it begins to boil. Turn heat down to just a simmer for 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Set it aside for a bit until you’re cake is just ready to go into the oven.

For your madeira cake,
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9” round cake pan, greasing the bottom with vegetable oil spray with flour. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture curdling. Fold flour into egg mixture, adding milk to give a mixture that falls reluctantly from the spoon. Fold in the lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, leveling the top of the cake with a spatula or knife. Dollop cooled blueberry jam over the top of the cake, and with a knife run a knife into the jam and batter swirling and distributing the jam evenly throughout the cake.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for ten minutes then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Pretty easy, no? Wordy, but nothing you haven’t done before. Unless you’re a box cake connoisseur, of which there is nothing wrong with that. Why lie, when I am whipping up a cake for the cake decorating classes I teach – I am not above a box mix. There is a reason they’re so popular – they’re fail-safe, convenient, and always yum-tastic.

Lastly for this bad boy – you’ll need an delicate and delicious custard. One lemon is good, so two must be better.

Egg based custards aren’t really my thing, so whipping up one without egg is always my first choice, hence my use of custard powder. Easy peasy.


In a medium bowl, whisk together custard powder, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar and 2 Tablespoons of milk. Set aside.


In a medium sauce pan, heat remaining milk until near boiling. Gently pour heated milk over the custard powder mix, whisking gingerly. Return entire mixture to pan and bring to a low boil until custard thickens over medium heat. 

Pour custard through medium sieve to remove lemon zest remnants. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and place in fridge until cool.


To finally assemble this beauty – whip out your cooled cake and a 3 inch round cookie cutter and bust out six rounds.



Set ’em aside and don’t forget to promptly devour the edges that don’t make the cut. Wow, I’m on a roll with the puns today. Sorry, I’ll stop.


In individual trifle dishes or bowls, dollop custard to the bottom of the dish. Top with one round of cake. Dollop another spoonful of custard onto cake and sprinkle with several fresh blueberries. Top with another round of cake, another dollop of custard and extra blueberries to garnish.

Place in fridge overnight and serve cold the next day. Can be served immediately if desired, but overnight resting allows custard to moisten up the cake.


Trust me – this should be apart of your next berry filled culinary adventure. You won’t be disappointed.

And P.S. – Don’t forget that there’s a giveaway goin’ on! All week enter my giveaway for a Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar and bottle giveaway! Who doesn’t want some beautiful oil and vinegar to dip into life sustaining crusty carbs?! Click the link to find out more!
Ciao, Italia! – GIVEAWAY