Cake is the most delicious way to showcase fresh fruit from your own backyard- and when mulberries are in season, there’s never a shortage! This mulberry & lime zest drizzle cake is our take on the traditional lemon drizzle cake. It’s more substantial, incredibly moist, and has a perfect balance between sweet & zingy fruit.
If you’re not blessed with a mulberry tree, never fear. You can just as easily use any similarly moist berry (I’d suggest blackberries), and even swap out limes for lemons if you like.
Here’s How To Make It
Pick a pile of fresh mulberries, cut the stems out, and set aside.
Zest 2 limes and set the zest aside. Cut the limes in half then juice them. Set the juice aside.
Preheat the oven to 160C (180 if not fan-forced). Cream the butter and sugar together until pale & well blended. Crack the eggs together into a separate bowl and whisk lightly. Gradually beat the eggs into the butter & sugar mixture. Add a little of the flour towards the end to prevent curdling (shown in middle pic). Beat in the lime zest.
Using a soft spatula, gently fold in the flour, then the almond meal. (To find out why folding is so important & how to do it, see our guide here). Then fold in enough lime juice to give a suitable consistency. You don’t need to use all the lime juice- you can keep any unused for the drizzle syrup.
Fold in 3/4 of the mulberries, then turn the batter into the prepared tin. Smooth the surface as best you can- as there is so much air in this cake, it is not one that will ‘fall into place’. Then place the remaining mulberries randomly across the top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. If the surface starts to brown too much, cover with foil during cooking.
Meanwhile, make the lime zest drizzle (this is basically a sugar syrup with lime). Put the lime juice, zest & sugar in a small non-stick saucepan over a gentle heat. Stir intermittently. The sugar should dissolve without the mixture coming to a boil. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, leave it in the tin & prick it all over with a skewer.
Then spoon the drizzle over it. Make sure it goes down into the holes you just made with the skewer. Spread the visible lime zest over the top of the cake with the back of a spoon. Leave the cake in the tin until completely cool.
Serve & enjoy!
Mulberry & Lime Zest Drizzle Cake
Equipment
- 1 electric beaters or mixmaster
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 Spatula
- 1 20cm square cake tin
- baking paper
- 1 small non-stick saucepan
Ingredients
- 225 grams butter, softened
- 225 grams caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 limes, zested & juiced
- 250 grams self-raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 25 grams almond meal
- 200 grams mulberries similar berries can be substituted
Drizzle Syrup
- 2 limes, juiced (should make around 8 tablespoons)
- 1 lime, zested
- 140 grams caster sugar
Instructions
- Pick the mulberries then cut out the stems. Set aside.
- Zest 2 limes and set the zest aside. Cut the limes in half then juice them. Set the juice aside.
- Line the base & sides of the cake tin with baking paper & butter the paper.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (355F) or 160C for a fan-forced oven.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until paler & well blended.
- Crack the eggs together into a separate bowl and whisk lightly.
- Gradually beat the eggs into the butter & sugar mixture. Add a little of the flour towards the end to prevent curdling.
- Beat in the lime zest.
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour, then the almond meal.
- Fold in enough lime juice to give a suitable consistency. You don't need to use it all if you don't want to, and you can use the leftover in the drizzle.
- Fold in 3/4 of the mulberries, then turn the batter into the prepared tin.
- Smooth the surface then place the remaining mulberries randomly across the top.
- Bake for one hour or until a skewer comes out clean. If the surface starts to brown too much, cover with foil during cooking.
- Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the lime juice, zest & sugar in a small non-stick saucepan over a gentle heat. Stir intermittently. The sugar should dissolve fully without the mixture coming to a boil.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick it all over with a skewer then spoon the syrup over it. Leave to cool in the tin.
- When the cake has completely cooled, turn it out of the tin, remove the paper & serve.
