Lemon & blueberry loaf

January 11-12, 2014

Last weekend we had another sewing day with Bec and Clamps - Michael made an entire shirt, and Bec and I now have a pretty cool retro dress in the works. Bec prepared bread, Clamps fried seitan, and they put us in charge of snacks. So Michael and I collected shiny vegan treats from the Korean grocers surrounding the Queen Victoria Markets, then delved inside for some cheapish blueberries and lemons.

The blueberries and lemons were for this loaf cake, from Isa Does It. It's a simple one bowl job, and I trialled a couple of tweaks to make it simpler still for my kitchen (all successful!). It took a little less time than expected to bake through, and you can see above that the crust split, which I actually quite like. On top is a simple, runny glaze of vanilla, lemon juice and icing sugar (if you're not keen on those little flecks of white above, sifting the icing sugar should fix that right up). Isa Chandra Moskowitz deems it optional, but if you like a strong lemony flavour in your sweets I'd strongly recommend going for the glaze.

Even if you do skip it, you can be sure of moist, cakey loaf - I had to slice mine thickly to avoid the cake crumbling under the knife. Bec spread her first piece with margarine, and Clamps served one later with a spoonful of coconut yoghurt on top, but I liked this loaf very much on its own.

Lemon and blueberry loaf
(very slightly adapted from from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Isa Does It)

cake
2/3 cup soymilk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

glaze
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat an oven to 180°C and line a loaf tin with paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice and zest. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla and whisk some more. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, stirring everything together to form a smooth batter. Fold in the blueberries.

Spray the papered loaf tin with a little oil and pour in the batter, smoothing over the top. Bake the loaf for 45-60 minutes, until it's golden brown on top and a skewer through the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then outside the tin for at least an hour.

To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients and spoon or pour them over the cake. The glaze is very runny, so I picked my spots, dribbled the glaze slowly, and allowed some of it to pool in the baking paper. Allow the glaze to cool and set a little before serving.