BLACKBERRY YOGURT CAKE

It's a regrettable truth that a love of cake and a teeny waistline do not a marriage make. All of the best baking ingredients - soft butter, vanilla rich sugar and thick fresh cream - become beacons of fear as bikini season approaches and we kiss goodbye to our roomy winter gear.

Summer may be just around the corner, but Pudding Lane is not prepared to give up baking for love or money. For anyone looking for something a little healthier, this yoghurt cake should be right up your alley. The butter and flour and replaced with yogurt and almonds, and the sponge is spiked with rich juicy blackberries making this, well, almost breakfast worthy. Nice try Luce.

I am saying my prayers for a sunny bank holiday weekend, so that I can sit on our roof terrace and basque in vitamin D and yogurtey-blackberry goodness. What do you have planned?

THE INGREDIENTS

2 eggs

225g yogurt

225g caster sugar

150g ground almonds

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 lemon

100g blackberries

100g icing sugar

THE RECIPE

Preheat your oven to 170C, and line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment. Weigh your sugar and eggs into a mixing bowl, then whisk for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is pale, airy and forms ribbons when you drag the whisk across the surface.

Add the yogurt, the zest of the lemon and a pinch of salt, and fold together to mix. Sieve in the almonds, flour and baking powder, and fold until the mixture is combined. Add the blackberries, then pour into your prepared tin and place in the centre of the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the cake is cooked and passes the knife test. If it is browning too much, cover with foil for the final 15 minutes.

Cool the cake on a wire rack. While it's cooling, mix the icing sugar with the juice from the lemon, and poor over the cake to glaze.