blueberry-creme fraiche loaf

Can we make another food "holy trinity"? A fruit themed one? Blueberries, lemon zest, and creme fraiche? Those three in a loaf are just so luxurious--so perfect together. No spring or summer is complete without making a few batches of blueberry loaves with these ingredients in them. Of course you could use sour cream or yogurt. I love to indulge in creme fraiche once in a while--it just makes cakes and loaves so rich and creamy. And I swear a blueberry loaf the next day tastes even better.

And if you love blueberry cake recipes make sure to give my blueberry cake recipe a go. It is fabulous and is always being requested by my friends.



This recipe I found used a frosting on the top. I did not use it, but opted for using a nice "crunch" topping. I love when cakes or muffins have a texture-like topping--a crunch. Make sure to read my cook notes before making this. Can you use another berry in this? Of course. Blackberries would be fabulous in this; strawberries too, if you cut them small enough.

Blueberry-crème fraiche loaf
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recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com

175g soft butter (3/4 cup plus 1 TB)
175g golden caster sugar (3/4 cup plus 1 TB; I used turbinado sugar and ran it through the processor)
3 large eggs
225g self-raising flour (I used 1 & ½ cups of self rising flour)
1 & ½ tsp baking powder
(I used a pinch of salt)
2 tsp vanilla extract (if you use lemon zest only use 1 tsp of extract)
142ml carton soured cream (I used crème fraiche “almost” 5 ounces)
3 x 125g blueberries (I used almost 1 & ½ cups)

Cook notes: Since I did not make the frosting that goes with this, instead I opted for a sugar crunch on the top. So halfway thru cooking time I sprinkled raw/coarse sugar on the top for that “crunch”. For the pan, I did not use a cake pan but used a large loaf pan instead. If you use a loaf pan you may have a bit of batter leftover, so you can use remainder to make muffins or a couple mini loaves. An after thought, I should have used a few teaspoons of fresh lemon zest. Golden caster sugar is an “almost” light brown sugar; it’s very light light brown. If you can’t find it, try using turbinado sugar and run it thru the processor to get it nice and fine. Or you could use superfine sugar.

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
Spray or butter a 9-inch cake cake or a large size loaf pan.
Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes, or with a hand electric beater for 1-2 minutes, until lighter in color and well mixed.
Beat in crème fraiche, then stir in half the blueberries with a large spoon.
Tip the mixture into the tin and spread it level. (Halfway thru cooking sprinkle raw/coarse sugar on the top.) Bake for 50 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and peel off the paper or lining. Leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.