Oh my gosh… this was so good, and so easy to make that it’s almost too good to be true! The texture is light and soft, the cake is not too sugary sweet, the outside has a crunch, the lemon is bright, and the blueberries are still bursting with juice…. All that goodness for 170 calories per slice (and that’s a decent slice – no slivers served in my kitchen!)

I’d tried many lemon blueberry recipes and methods but none had been what I was looking for – my loaf attempt was really dense and soggy,  the sandwich cake version was OK, but needed lemon curd between the layers which was an extra faff (and extra calories). So I thought about using a bundt pan… I always feel that you get more ‘bang for your buck’ from a bundt cake – it seems to go further.  

Lots of the versions I tried contained ground almonds and/or yoghurt, but I think those added to the denseness that wasn’t working for me. So I decided to have a go at a basic all-in-one cake and it worked!! So simple, so quick, light, tasty and…. low calorie!! 170 cals per portion (as you know by now, I don’t camouflage the calorie count by only serving teeny portions – these are decent chunks of cake)! I’m still in shock!!  Please have a go – I hope it’ll make you smile 🙂

You will need a loose-bottomed 9½ inch bundt pan, lightly coated with spray oil just before baking.

This is really very simple, especially if you have a stand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use an electric hand whisk with twin beaters, and you may need to beat for a touch longer just to get around to incorporating all the ingredients – just don’t over mix.

Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Straight into the mixer bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Then just dump in the margarine, sugar substitute, eggs and egg white. Then grate the zest of the two lemons straight into the bowl, and finish with the juice of one of the lemons.

Now with the paddle attachment, beat on low for 20 seconds to combine, then turn it up to medium for another 20 seconds to beat and aerate the batter.

Use a spatula to scrape down the sides to ensure all the flour has been incorporated. Add the milk, then beat for another 20 seconds… and that’s it!

Now prepare the bundt tin by spraying it with 4 pumps of frylight, or whatever light-tasting spray oil you have access to. Fold half the blueberries into the batter, and spoon half the batter into the tin. Spread it out over the base, and scatter over half the remaining blueberries. Follow with the rest of the batter and top with the remaining blueberries (many recipes recommend tossing the blueberries in flour to prevent them from sinking through the cake – I’ve tried it and it didn’t really work – did my blueberries sink? Yes, a bit. Did I care? Nope, not a bit!).

Smooth the top of the batter and bake for 60minutes or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for at least 5 minutes, but you can ease a knife around the edges to help release the cake when it’s cooled a bit. After 5-8 minutes, invert the cake onto a plate, then invert it again (right-side-up) onto a wire rack to cool further – at least another 10 minutes.

And that’s it! The resulting cake is light and fluffy, once cooled a little, the outside has a nice crunch, and although the blueberries did sink a bit, no-one cared at all! It doesn’t taste like it could possibly be diet-friendly, yet it is! Winner!

Recipe: Low Calorie All-in-One Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake 

You will need a loose bottomed 9½inch bundt pan, sprayed with 4 sprays of oil (eg. Frylight) just before pouring in the batter.

Makes one cake giving 12 portions 

Ingredients:

• 235g / 8oz self raising flour 
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder 
• Pinch of salt
• 190g / 6.5oz swerve granulated sugar substitute
• 3 large eggs
• 1 egg white
• 255g / 9oz light margarine 
• 2 lemons 
• 2 dessert spoons skimmed milk
• 150g / 5oz fresh blueberries
• 4 sprays of frylight to grease the  the pan
• 1 tsp powdered sugar to decorate

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer
• Add the sweetener, margarine, eggs + egg white to the bowl
• Grate the lemon zest straight into the bowl, and follow with the juice of one of the lemons.
• Beat on low for 20 seconds to combine, then beat on medium for 20 seconds.
• Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the flour has been incorporated. 
• Add two spoons of skimmed milk and beat again for another 20 seconds.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in half of the blueberries.
• Spray the bundt pan with the spray oil.
• Spoon half the cake batter into the tin and smooth it around. Sprinkle over half the remaining blueberries.
• Spoon the rest of the batter into the tin, followed by the remaining blueberries. Smooth the top and put it into the oven.
• Bake at 175°C for 60minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven, run a knife around the side of the pan, and leave it to cool in the tin for at least 5 minutes.
• Turn the cake out onto a plate and remove the base, turn it over again onto a wire rack and leave it to cool for another 5 – 10 minutes.
• Dust the top with powdered sugar.