We are enjoying a day filled with dark clouds and plenty of rain today. We can't complain really. May was a beautiful month, but we do need rain. Rain is a part and parcel of why this country is so lush and green! Admittedly things were starting to turn brown, and I don't like that!
With everything that is going on though, rain can be a bit depressing. With the virus, the lockdown, the riots, etc. we needed a bit of a pick-me-up, so I decided to treat us to a bit of a dessert. Lemon Sandwiches with Blueberries & Cream.
And what a fabulous dessert it is. Thick slices of a moist and delicious lemon cake are topped with a rich yogurt cream and a sweet fresh blueberry sauce . . .
Topped with another thick slice of that gorgeous cake and then dusted with some icing sugar. Beautifully delicious.
That cake is light and lemony. You could enjoy just the cake on its own with along with a nice hot cuppa . . . and trust me, we will be doing just that.
It is moist and tender and as light as an angel's wings . . . that cream filling is a lush mix of whipped cream and thick greek yogurt, with just enough tang to provide a brilliant cool contrast to the sweetness of the cake . . .
Then there is the berry portion. Oh sure, you could just put some fresh berries in the middle and nothing else . . . but stir them together with a bit of blueberry jam that has been loosened with a bit of lemon juice and . . . wow, just WOW!
Of course if you are not fond of blueberries, you could use strawberries, or raspberries. Maybe even sliced canned peaches. All would be pretty wonderful.
The recipe calls for a pretty long loaf tin, which I did not have. Instead I used a 10 by 3 inch loaf tin as well as an 8 by 3 inch tin. They were perfectly baked in about ten minutes less than the recipe states.
The recipe is one I adapted from one of my favourite cookery books, Apples for Jam by Tess Kiros. I love her books.
All of her recipes turn out wonderfully and are simple and in their simplicity quite delicious. I have never had one fail me yet.
I have all of her books. There was only one that I really didn't care for much, the Portugese one. Piri Piri Starfish. I gave that one away, but Apples for Jam, Falling Cloudberries . . . exquisite!
Lemon Sandwiches with Blueberries & Cream
Yield: 12
A basic lemon cake, which is great just as a cake, but put slices together in paird, with some tangy yogurt cream and sweet blueberries sandwiched in the middle and you have a company worthy dessert worth sharing!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 250g butter softened, (9 ounces or 1 cup +1TBS)
- 280g caster sugar (1 1/4 cups superfine sugar)
- 3 large free range eggs
- 310g plain flour (2 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- the finely grated zest and juice of one unwaxed lemon
- 185ml of single pouring cream (3/4 cup)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
To fill and finish:
- 100ml double cream (3 1/2 fluid ounces)
- 2 tsp icing sugar
- 100ml thick greek yogurt (7 TBS)
- 100g fresh blueberries (3 1/2 ounces)
- 3 TBS blueberry jam
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- icig sugar to dust the cake
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 170*C/325*F/gas mark3. Butter a 12 by 4 inch loaf tin really well and dust with flour. Shake out any excess flour. Alternately you can line it with baking paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift the flour and baking powder together with a pinch of salt. Whisk into the creamed mixture alternately with the cream, until you have lovely smooth batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for one hour and ten minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan completely.
- To make the filling. Whisk the jam together with the lemon juice to loosen. Fold in the fresh berries. Set aside to macerate.
- Whip the cream with the icing sugar until soft peaks form. Fold in the yogurt.
- Cut the cake into 1/2 inch thick slices and sandwich together with a dollop of the cream/yogurt mixture and a nice spoonful of the berries. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.
Hmmm . . . I was just on Amazon going through reviews on my cookbook and found this:
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2020
Intellectual property rights are real. I did not order this book to support a blogger who cannot even attribute ownership of recipes. I returned it asap. This is not common knowledge for making ganche- these are special and unique recipes that real chefs made up. Buy this book to support thief.
DUH??? I beg to differ. Somebody is being very mean-spirited here. There isn't even a recipe for ganache in the book? Add to that the fact that my publisher hasn't even been able to print a hard copy since last summer due to their loss of a printing company, it is highly unlikely that this person even bought a copy, let alone returned it right away. Why are people so mean? I spent years working on that book. It was a labor of love for me. Anyone who reads my blog knows I always attribute recipes that I use from other's . And as far as Ganache goes, anyone who has been to culinary school knows how to make it. It is a pretty basic recipe that every student is taught. This is about the time that someone started marking all of my recipe posts on my facebook page as Spam. I think I know who that was now. Sigh . . .
