MINI LEMON & BLACKBERRY CAKES

I keep going back and forth between opening a made-to-order cake business or not, so I recently purchased a load of shiny new tins and I've been testing different recipes. These mini lemon cakes just use my easy lemon drizzle recipe, with a blackberry popped into the batter before going in the oven, but using a friand pan to create mini, individual cakes makes them that little bit more special, don't you think? I realise that these pictures are basically all the same...but choosing your favourite cake picture is like choosing between a little of puppies, am I right (not really...but sort of).

RECIPE

Weigh 3 (cracked) free-range eggs – the weight in grams dictates the quantities of the other ingredients, so a set of electric scales is useful for this. Whatever the eggs weigh, you will use the same number in grams of self-raising flour, butter and caster sugar - capiche?

If your eggs weigh 150g (the approximate weight of 3 medium-sized eggs), your recipe will be:

3 free-range eggs

150g self-raising flour

150g softened butter

150g caster sugar

Blackberries

Juice and zest of 2 un-waxed lemons

A few tablespoons of caster sugar

Heat the oven to 180C/356F/gas mark 4. Mix together the butter and sugar – you can use a hand-mixer, but a good old wooden spoon is my tool of choice. Add the flour and eggs and mix until you get a smooth, thick batter. Add the lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon.

Grease a round cake tin with butter or line a muffin tray with paper cases. I used a friand pan to make these cute mini cakes and put about a tablespoon into each case – this recipe makes about 12 to 15 small cakes. Press a blackberry – or blueberry, raspberry, etc. – into the top of each cake.

For a cake tin, bake for about 30 – 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. My mini cakes took between 15 – 20 minutes.

While the cakes are still in their tin, mix together the remaining lemon juice and caster sugar, prick the cakes all over with a toothpick and pour the syrup over the top. Leave for at least 10 minutes to cool slightly in the tin.

These are amazing warm with a dollop of cream, but also deliciously moist once cooled and will keep for a few days in an airtight container.