Comfort food means cake!

The nights are starting to draw in, which means that, yes, Winter is on the way. And if you are anything like me at times like these I need comfort food. This can be in the form of a roast chicken dinner, a big mug of soup, hot chocolate or....cake. 

Yes, I love cake. 

Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle, chocolate fudge and apple. I love it all.

Yesterday my darling sister sent me some cupcakes from Butterfly Bakery – they were cookies and cream and they have half an Oreo cookie on the top with the rest crumbled inside, with crunchy and creamy frosting on top. Mmmmmmm...

Image from butterflybakery.co.uk

 

(This is the same company that we used for our wedding cakes – more on this in later posts!)

I would like to share with you a recipe for a cake that I have made on a few occasions, which is always eaten amid cries of “This is amazing! So tasty! Please can I have the recipe?!” It is for a Blueberry Soured Cream Cake.

Ingredients

·         175g/6oz butter, softened

·         175g/6oz golden caster sugar

·         3 large eggs

·         225g/8oz self-raising flour

·         1tsp baking powder

·         2tsp vanilla extract

·         142ml carton soured cream

·         3 x 125g punnets blueberries

FOR THE FROSTING

·         200g tub soft cheese (Philadelphia)

·         100g/4oz icing sugar

Method

      1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4/fan oven 160°C. Butter and line the base of a 23cm/9in round cake tin. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl. Beat for 2-3 minutes until pale and well mixed. Beat in 4 tablespoons soured cream, then stir in half the blueberries.

2. Tip the mixture into the tin and level. Bake for 50 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed. Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and peel off the paper. Leave to finish cooling.

3. Beat the soft cheese with the icing sugar and the remaining soured cream until smooth and creamy. Spread over the top of the cooled cake and scatter with the remaining blueberries. The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Nicki dishing up

I made this for my sister’s birthday recently and it went down very well, as you can see in the photos! This cake is so moist – and is healthier than a lot of other cakes because there is no double cream, and I’m sure that the blueberries count towards your five a day!

Enjoy!