For the next few weeks, I am cooking and baking alone. Claudia has decided to leave me and head out of town for a well-deserved vacation. As she left, she gave me simple, yet specific instructions for the blog –  post her favourite recipes of mine that I make for her. Simple enough.

This first “on my own” recipe is a new addition to my baking repertoire. I’ve adapted this blueberry loaf recipe from Jen on her How to Simplify blog by adding lemon zest to the loaf batter and making my own white chocolate, lemon icing to go along with it. This recipe makes a dense, sweet loaf which is perfect for blueberry season. Onward!

You will need:

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk (I’ve adapted this also – buttermilk is amazing for baking. I use it instead of regular milk all the time.)

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 lemon (to use for zest and juice)

4 squares of white chocolate

1 cup(ish) icing sugar

In a bowl combine egg, milk and oil.

Whisk it….whisk it good!

The best purchase I made in the month of June in the USA was this awesome zester. Now zest your little heart out kids!

Mmm….that fresh lemon you will smell is unbelievable.

Now sift all your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Sifting is very important. I don’t have the time to go over all the reasons why it’s important – it just is. So please, sift responsibly.

Gradually mix your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients.

And now we introduce our star of the recipe.

Add your luscious blueberries.

Gently mix (and I do mean gently – unless you want to wind up with a blue coloured loaf on purpose?)

Now this is probably the only deliberate product placement I will speak of on this blog (how can you tell my Mom is out of town..I’m gettin’ sneaky!).

This is Wilton’s Cake Release. It’s by far the BEST thing I’ve come across to grease any type of pan. Better than sprays and better than getting your hand all greasy with butter. I use it for everything – this recipe included. I’ve had it for over a year and I’ve used only half the bottle. It’s also cheap. Onward!

Cake Release in full effect.

Add your batter to your greased loaf pan and bake at 350 F for 55 – 60 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

While it’s cooling….lets prepare the glorious white chocolate lemon icing!

In a double boiler (again, how can you tell Claudia is away? I’m using a double boiler…no microwave here!) add your chopped up squares of white chocolate and continuously stir.

Melted goodness.

Take the bowl off the saucepan just before it’s completely melted and mix until lumps disappear.

Sift your icing sugar. Again, sifting is ESSENTIAL when dealing with icing sugar. If you don’t, you will end up with a lumpy mess. Trust me, I’ve been there..many times.

For this, I generally eyeball the next ingredients. I use enough icing sugar (again about a cup) to obtain the desired thickness of my icing. Yours could be thicker or thinner if you prefer – just add more or less icing sugar with your liquids.

Take that lemon you zested earlier and juice it. Juice it good!

Hint – make sure you strain this juice as well, or else you will end up with pulp and seeds. Nobody wants that in their loaf.

Combine white chocolate, 2 tbsp lemon juice, sifted icing sugar and a tiny splash of buttermilk.

Again, you use your judgement here with your icing.

Pour over your cooled, delicious blueberry lemon loaf.

And enjoy the sweet taste of summer.

Correction: the sweet SINFUL taste of summer.