Method (blueberry compote)

1. Place the blueberries into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle over the sugar, cornflour / cornstarch and lemon juice.
2. Place on top onto the hob over a medium to high heat and bring to the boil. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning, being careful not to burst the blueberries too much as you want some to stay whole. It will start to turn thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool before using. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn jelly-like.
3. Store in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. As the compote cools, it’ll turn thick. If this happens, give it a gentle stir before using.

Method (cakes)

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C fan and line two, 6 inch loose base / push up cake tins with greaseproof paper. Set aside. 
2. In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine.
4. Add the oil and zest of 1 lemon (if using) into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
6. Add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice into a bowl and add in the blueberries. Coat them in the lemon juice to moisten them, then roll to coat them in flour.
7. Gently fold the coated blueberries into the batter. Only fold them 1-2 times, don’t over-mix.
8. Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins. Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
9. Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch. As the cakes have the blueberries, they might be sticker than usual when first out of the oven.
10. Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly before removing from the tins. Remove the greaseproof paper and allow to cool fully on the cooling rack. Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting.

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and whip until pale. I use a Cuisinart Stand Mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work well too.
2. Sift in the icing sugar and add in the dairy-free yogurt, whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.
3. Fold in 2 tablespoons of blueberry compote. If your buttercream splits, no worries, it’s easily fixable! What you’ll want to do is add more icing sugar (50g at a time) into the mixture along with a few cubes of butter. Keep the mixture whipping on high until it comes back to a smooth consistency.
4. Stack and fill the cakes with some buttercream and compote (watch how I decorate this cake here). Optional: Press whole, fresh blueberries into the buttercream / compote before placing the other cake on top.
5. Place the second cake layer on top. Pressing it down gently so it sticks.
6. Crumb coat the whole cake with a little buttercream, then place into the freezer to firm up. This will take 5 minutes. You don’t want to actually freeze the cake, just set the buttercream firm. This helps with ease at applying the final coat. If you’d like to learn ‘how to ice cakes’ and applying buttercream, make sure to pick up a copy of my book. It will really help you!!
7. Apply a thick coat of blueberry buttercream all around the top and sides of the cake. Use a cake scraper or pallet knife to make it smooth.
8. Make decorative lines in the buttercream using a small off set spatula, drag it from the bottom to the top of the cake, wiping off any excess buttercream in-between each swipe.
9. Transfer any left over buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle (I use a Wilton 2D tip), and pipe a decorative swirl along the top edge of the cake.
10. To decorate the cake, press whole, fresh blueberries to the side of the cake (in three’s). Finish with a mint leaf for decoration (optional). Check out the photos on this post for reference. Why not go that extra step and fill the top of the cake with whole blueberries?!