Blueberry Madeira Cake with Lemon Custard

Jam:
To concentrate the blueberry flavor in the cake without watering it down, make a jam using the blueberries and sugar. Combine the two ingredients over medium heat in a nonstick saucepan, until it begins to boil. Turn heat down to just a simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9” round cake pan, greasing the bottom with vegetable oil spray with flour.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Then fold remaining flour into egg mixture, adding milk until the mixture falls reluctantly from the spoon. Fold in the lemon zest.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, leveling the top of the cake with a spatula or knife. Dollop cooled blueberry jam over the top of the cake, and run a knife into the jam and batter swirling and distributing the jam evenly throughout the cake. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for ten minutes then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Custard:
In a medium bowl, whisk together custard powder, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat remaining milk until near boiling. Then gently pour heated milk over the custard powder mix, whisking gingerly. Return entire mixture to the saucepan and bring to a low boil until custard thickens over medium heat.

Pour custard through medium sieve into a bowl in order to remove lemon zest remnants. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and place in the fridge until cool.

To assemble cake:
With a large round cookie cutter, cut out 6 rounds of the cake and set aside.

Remove custard from fridge and whisk until smooth. Set aside.

In individual trifle dishes or bowls, dollop custard into the bottom of the dish. Top with one round of cake. Dollop another spoonful of custard onto cake and sprinkle with several fresh blueberries. Top with another round of cake, another dollop of custard and extra blueberries to garnish.

Place in fridge overnight and serve cold the next day. Can be served immediately if desired, but overnight resting allows custard to moisten up the cake.