We arrived home one evening this week soaked to the skin – squelching sandals and soggy T-shirts and jeans. What happened to the summer sunshine?

So – time to bake a comforting ‘cheer-me-up’ cake. A quick raid of the fridge and cupboards identified some likely / possible cake ingredients – carrots, blueberries, dates, yogurt – but there were no eggs in the house?!

And here was the dilemma – get soaked again running to the shop to buy eggs or risk an egg-free cake disaster. One glance at the rain bucketing it down made the decision easy – egg-free cake it is. After a bit of an internet search and a few tweaks of our own this recipe, once triple tested, was declared a success. It’s light, delicious and feels quite virtuous, being wheat and butter-free too. We also experimented with adding poppy seeds which worked well. It seems to last a few days (well it would if one of the foodies didn’t keep scoffing it) and is great with a coffee or served up with warming custard or cooling ice-cream – depending on the summer weather!

Yogurt & blueberry cake (egg-free)

You need:

250g Spelt (or plain) flour
1.5 tsp Baking powder
0.5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
60ml Olive oil
pinch Salt
60ml Milk
125g Yogurt
150g Sugar (plus more for the topping)
1 Vanilla pod
1 tbsp Lemon juice
190g Fresh blueberries (or any other berries)
zest 1 Lemon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease with olive oil or line with silicon / baking paper a large loaf tin.

Put 3 tablespoons of the flour in a small bowl and add the blueberries, wrapping each one in flour will stop them all settling at the bottom of the cake when it’s baking.

In large bowl sieve the remaining flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set it aside.

Whisk the oil and sugar together, then add the yogurt and milk and briefly whisk again. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla essence.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together until everything is well mixed. Now add the blueberries and any remaining flour and stir together.

Spoon the batter into the tin and bake at 180 C for around 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave it to rest for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and let the cake cool.