Blueberry, lemon and mint drizzle cake

Method

1. Position a shelf in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease a 900g loaf tin (it should measure about 11cm x 22cm across the top) and line with baking paper.
2. Finely chop about a quarter of the mint leaves (to yield 1 tbsp). Put the blueberries into a bowl and stir in 1 tsp of the lemon juice and the chopped mint, then set aside. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. Using an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar together in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes until pale and slightly fluffy. This will be a little harder than usual because of the high proportion of sugar, but it will eventually come together and become much paler in colour. Beat in the lemon zest. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding 1 tbsp of the sifted flour with the second egg. Add the milk gradually, folding in large spoonfuls of the remaining flour until the mixture is smooth, then fold in the desiccated coconut.
Recipe continues after advertising
Advertisement
4. Spoon one-third of the cake mixture into the bottom of the prepared loaf tin and scatter over one-third of the blueberries. Repeat twice more, ending with a layer of blueberries. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes away clean.
5. While the cake is cooking, make the topping. Put the rest of the mint leaves and 2 tbsp of the granulated sugar into a mortar or small bowl and pound with the pestle or the end of a rolling pin until it forms a bright green paste. Stir in the remaining lemon juice (about 3-4 tbsp) and leave to infuse. When the cake comes out of the oven, leave it to cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, strain the minty lemon juice through a clean tea strainer into a bowl, pressing out as much of the juice as you can. Stir in the remaining granulated sugar.
6. Spoon the minty lemon and sugar mixture over the cake and leave it to cool. Remove the cake from the tin, peel off the paper, then sprinkle the top lightly with a little more sugar. Serve cut into thick slices.