Blueberry and Lemon Mascarpone Cake

6 SERVES:

I'm not much of a sweet baker because I cannot follow a recipe to save myself, which means sometimes baking can go awry.

But this cake is one of a couple of supereasy-to-whip-up gems that I keep up my sleeve. I cook it in my skillet now because I have given up on cakes and donated all of my cake tins to more skilled bakers. Also, skillet desserts are just that little bit more interesting.

No need for icing on this baby; the richness is all inside from the delicious mascarpone.

This recipe uses my product Baker's Blend, but I've included an alternative mix if you don't have it.

INGREDIENTS

90g butter

250g mascarpone

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste zest of

1 lemon

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

⅔ cup caster sugar

1¼ cups blueberries (frozen is fine) icing sugar, to dust

1 tsp ground Bakers Blend, plus extra for the top, OR mix together:

½ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar,

½ tsp cinnamon,

½ tsp mixed spice

METHOD

1 Leave all of the ingredients on the bench for an hour – we want them all at room temperature, especially the mascarpone. I know this is annoying because we want cake quickly, but the recipe does work much better this way.

2 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 26cm (10½ in) skillet with baking paper and grease it with a little butter.

3 Melt the butter and whisk together with the room-temperature mascarpone, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest.

4 Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and Bakers Blend (or alternative) in a separate bowl, then stir through the mascarpone mixture.

5 Add 1 cup of the blueberries – just gently fold the mixture a couple of times so it doesn't go purple.

6 Spoon the mixture into the skillet evenly. Sprinkle the extra blueberries on top and grind a little extra Bakers Blend over the cake – this gives it a little bit of a crunchy texture. Bake for 45 minutes.

7 Dust with a little icing sugar, and serve warm as a dessert, or in slices with a dollop of yoghurt and fresh hot coffee.