Mini Vegan Lemon, Blueberry and Mint Cake

You're probably wondering where I've been in my baking and cooking and it's really simple: 1) I've been a bit busy and 2) I haven't been well. I developed a horrid rash on my neck that still hasn't gone away, I've been in pain because of my shoulder still being screwed over and atop of this, I haven't been getting as much sleep as I would like. It's been a bit of a ride to be honest. But here we are with more cake. This time, we're looking at lemon, blueberry and mint. Everything is fresh and nothing comes out of a bottle or a jar. If you want the best mint, you need to grow it yourself in a pot. Please don't go growing mint on the garden floor... you will regret it.

Mint grows pretty quickly as well. The great thing about the British weather is that it is perfect for mint growth. There's an ample amount of rain and it's not too dry.

It's one of my favourite herbs to use because it is so potent. The mint plant in my garden perhaps grows to shaving length once every couple of weeks but then again, I keep picking bits and pieces off to put in cakes and in my food.

And this is why we're here today.

Mini Vegan Lemon, Blueberry and Mint Cake

Ingredients:

• 100g Brown Sugar
• 100g Vegan Butter
• 1.5x Tbsp Apple Sauce
• 110g Self-Raising Flour
• 1x Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1x Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1/2x Large Lemon
• 1x Handful Blueberries
• 1x Handful Fresh Mint

How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C and line a mini cake tin with greaseproof paper or alternatively go around it with a bit of oil
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla and apple sauce until fully combined
3. Squeeze the half of the lemon into the mixture and combine further
4. Finely chop the mint and put this into the mixture to and combine again
5. Put in the flour and baking powder, combining once more
6. Add the blueberries and combine slowly so that the blueberries don't completely blend, but are lightly squished
7. Once this is all done, transfer the batter to the cake tin and put it in the over for about 20-22 minutes
8. You'll know when the cake is done because the cake will come away from the sides slightly
9. Wait for the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin (because of the blueberries, the cake will be very moist and very wet. Trying to handle it whilst its hot may cause the cake to crumble and break)
10. Once it's cooled, pop it in the fridge for a bit to solidify entirely and then, once it is entirely cold, you can eat it (this should take about 10 minutes or so)

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I like to add a bit of ginger to this cake in the winter because it is so warming, but there are other flavour combinations you can do that use the same base of lemon and blueberry but perhaps have a different taste to them than the mint. These include but aren't limited to:

- Lemon, Blueberry and Basil

- Lemon, Blueberry and Dried Strawberry

- Lemon, Blueberry and Tarragon

- Lemon, Blueberry and Shredded Peach

- Lemon, Blueberry and Coconut (use the coconut milk for this instead of the shredded coconut)

- Lemon, Blueberry and Rose (a tablespoon of rose syrup should do the trick)

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So there you have it, a lot of different combinations of lemon and blueberry for cake and honestly, I have to say I prefer the mint one because I love mint. This is a small cake and so it will probably feed about 3-4 people if you were to cut good size portions. You can probably get about 8 out of it if everyone wants a smaller portion. But please remember you need to have the same amount of baking powder as a regular size cake or else the cake won't really rise. To make it gluten free you need to double the baking powder and switch out self-raising flour for almond flour.

A cool, light and refreshing cake for the summer is a great idea. I just wish the weather would keep up.