Baking for Beginners: Summer Berry Loaf

If we keep baking things with "summer" in the title, it will bring the warmest season to us. Think of it as summoning Aslan. This summer berry loaf will defeat the White Witch of winter, and bring us sunshine and flowers. Failing that, it'll taste deliciously light with bursts of fruity flavour. Tell yourself you're going to take some to work for your mid-morning snack, accidentally devour the lot with your housemates while it's still warm.

Use whichever berries you like - blueberries, raspberries, chopped up strawberries. I usually pick up whatever's on offer in the supermarket. It's fine if they're a bit soft, so grab the reduced punnets that have an upcoming best-before date.

Summer Berry Loaf

You will need:

• 150g caster sugar
• 100g butter, soft (leave it out for a few hours)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 150g plain yoghurt
• Zest of one lemon
• 250g self-raising flour
• 175g mixed berries

Make it!

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Line a loaf tin with baking paper or cake liner.
2. Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, then whisk in the vanilla, eggs, yoghurt and lemon zest.
3. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold it in gently until well combined.
4. Add roughly a third of the cake mix to the tin, then scatter over a third of the berries. Repeat until you've used up all the berries, then gently cover them with a thin layer of cake mix. Layering helps prevent all the berries from sinking to the bottom.
5. Pop in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes until well risen and golden, and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then tip out onto a cooling rack.