Blueberry Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze Icing

This blueberry cake loaf is a blueberry cake baked in a loaf tin. It’s deliciously moist, filled with fresh blueberries, and has a lovely hint of lemon to it. To complete the cake, I drizzled the top with an amazingly sweet and tangy lemon glaze. All in all, the combination of blueberries with the lemon in this moist loaf cake is simply irresistible!

I like to bake cakes in loaf tins, especially those that I do not intend to decorate. Cake loaves are very presentable just that way, and a simple drizzle of chocolate or glaze icing is all you ever need if you want to decorate them. There is no need for fancy icing or frosting.

This is why I choose to make this blueberry cake loaf in a loaf tin! The cake is super yummy on its own and does not require any frosting or icing. And the fact that it is easier to slice a loaf cake compared to round or square cakes is another reason I choose to bake it in a loaf tin.

The recipe for this blueberry cake loaf is adapted from my moist vanilla cake. It’s a made from scratch cake that is superbly moist and makes a perfect base for this blueberry cake. My vanilla cake is baked in round cake tins, but for this blueberry cake loaf, I halved the recipe to fit an 8-inch by 4-inch loaf tin. Also, since this cake loaf is taller, the baking time is increased slightly.

This cake makes are great tea-time treat, or even a snack anytime you feel like it.

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How to Make Blueberry Cake Loaf

Ingredients

• Self-raising flour + salt + baking powder
• Granulated sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Blueberries
• Lemon zest
• Vanilla Essence

Lemon Glaze

• Icing sugar
• Lemon juice
• Water

Mixing the cake loaf batter

1. Start by washing the blueberries. Dap them dry in a kitchen towel and set aside.
2. Start by creaming the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. For the recipe measurement given, this should take at least 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl halfway through.
3. Next, add the eggs. Add them one at a time. Each time, beat until all the traces of the egg are no longer visible. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
4. Add the lemon zest and mix well.
5. Measure the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Mix these ingredients together with a spoon.
6. Fold in one third of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.

1. Add half of the milk and mix well.
2. Continue with the remaining dry ingredients in 2 batches. Add the remaining milk in between the batches.
3. Once all the milk and dry ingredients have been added, add the vanilla essence. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the mixing spoon so that there is no flour left unfolded.
4. Next is the blueberries. Add one tablespoon of flour to the blueberries and shake well to coat the blueberries with a thin layer of flour.
5. Spoon the floured blueberries into the cake batter and discard any remaining dusting flour left over at the bottom.
6. Gently fold the berries into the batter. If you press them too much, they will bleed and your cake batter will start to turn blue.

Baking the cake loaf

1. Pour the batter into a well-greased and floured 8 inches by 4 inches loaf tin. Make sure that the blueberries are well distributed and not focused towards the bottom. Level the top. Bake the cake loaf for 60 to 65 minutes at 165 degrees Celsius.
2. After 40 minutes of baking, use a skewer to poke the top of the cake a couple of times. This will help the cake cook faster. Check the cake again at 55 minutes. A skewer inserted in the center of the cake will come out without any wet batter sticking to it. If there is, continue to bake for another 5 minutes.
3. Remove cake loaf from the oven and let it rest in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a jam knife around the side of the loaf to release the sides of the cake.
4. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Let it cool down with the top facing up.
5. Cover the cake with a kitchen towel while it is cooling down.
6. Before the cake cools down completely, i.e. when it is still warm, wrap it with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours.

Remove the cake from the fridge and let it return to room temperature before removing the wrap.

The lemon glaze

1. To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl.
2. Add lemon juice and water to it and mix well.
3. Pour the glaze icing into a piping bag.
4. Snip the tip and drizzle the icing on the cake loaf.

To serve, cut the cake into slices.

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Notes

Why do you need to coat the blueberries in flour before adding them to the cake batter?

• The flour coat will ensure the blueberries do not sink to the bottom of the cake loaf when baking. The flour locks them in place, so you will get the blueberries well distributed throughout the cake (depending on how you fold them into the batter).
• To coat them with flour, make sure the blueberries are not too wet. If there is too much water on the fruits, spread them on a kitchen towel and push them around with your fingers, letting the water on the berries be absorbed by the kitchen towel. Too much water on the berries will result in the flour clumping around them, and after baking, you will end up with these obvious clumps around your berries in the cake loaf.

How to coat the blueberries with flour?

• Make sure the fruits are not overly wet. Dab them try by placing them on a kitchen towel and moving them back and forth with your fingers.
• Once done, place the berries into a bowl. Drop 1 tablespoon of flour onto the berries. Lift the bowl and shake it to coat the berries with flour.
• Alternatively, you can place the berries in a ziplock bag and add the flour into it. Shake the bag to coat the berries with flour. Do this gently as you do not want your berries to get squashed.

Can you add berries to the top of the cake?

• Yes, you can.
• Reserve some berries when mixing into the cake batter. Once you have poured the cake batter into the loaf tin, spread the reserved berries all over the top.
• Alternatively, you can increase the blueberries in the recipe to one and a quarter cups. Coat all in flour, but use only 1 cup for the batter. Use the remaining quarter cup for the cake loaf top.

Why should the blueberry cake loaf be covered with a kitchen towel when cooling down

• This is a trick to keep your cake moist. In fact, this trick works for most cakes. Covering them will avoid them from drying out when cooling down, especially if placed under the fan or in an air conditioned room.

Is it necessary to refrigerate the cake?

• This step can be skipped if you want to serve your blueberry cake loaf warm.
• You can also choose to skip this step entirely, even if you are not planning on eating your cake immediately. However, wrapping the cake while it is still warm and placing it in the fridge is another trick to make cakes moist and it works for this cake.
• The wrapping is very important as it traps the moisture in the cake making it soft and moist.
• Do take note that it is important to make sure you only removing the wrapping on the cake once it has reached room temperature (after the refrigeration). This is to avoid condensation on the cake which can reduce its shelf life.

How long can this cake last?

• This cake is best consumed within 2 days. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for one week. The cake is best eaten at room temperature.

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Blueberry Cake Loaf Recipe

Here is the full printable version of my blueberry cake loaf recipe.

And that’s that. My super easy and super moist blueberry cake loaf recipe.

Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Blueberry Filling Recipe – Quick and Easy Homemade Recipe
• Coconut Loaf Cake with Lemon Glaze Topping
• Glaze Icing

Happy baking 🙂