3. Double almond, lemon and blueberry picnic loaf

225g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
4 large eggs
zest of 2 lemons, juice of 1
225g plain flour
100g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
200g blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly butter a 28cm loaf tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

2. Put all of the ingredients (exlucing the blueberries) into a large bowl with a pinch of salt and beat together with an electric hand whisk until smooth and combinedd.

3. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and push the blueberries gently in. Smooth over the top. Bake for 50-60 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf. Cool in the tin before turning out.


This recipe is from a pre-christmas issue of Sainsbury's magazine and i managed to use up quite a few bits that i had around the kitchen. Alongside a rather old looking lemon and some leftover ground almonds, i used blueberries from the freezer which i let defrost first.

Because it's a 'put-everything-in-together-and-blitz-it' recipe, it's really quick and simple. I didn't have a 28cm loaf tin so used a 20cm and made one mini loaf. The mini loaf obviously didn't take as long (about 25 minutes) while the big loaf took more like 70-80 minutes with being a bit deeper. Also, after about 40 minutes i covered it with some foil to prevent too much browning.

It's nice and fresh with the juice from the blueberries to help wash the mouth and the slight lemony touch cuts through to prevent too much sugary or buttery-ness. It's quite a light sponge too, so isn't too dense or heavy to eat.