the blueberry cake thing - by popular demand!

I have just had such a nice response to my cookery blog from my sister-in-law Sarah that I am immediately acceding to her request to post the recipe for my blueberry cake.. If this sounds like a hint - it is. Requests will be honoured if at all possible..

This is something I have made a lot of times for a number of reasons - it almost always works, it freezes and most importantly, it is delicious. I think the secret of its deliciousness is actually the icing as it's very cheesecakey. Very light and refreshing with the fruit but then the cake underneath makes sure that you know you are eating cake and not mincing about with just fruit. So without further ado - let us make cake!

Blueberry soured cream cake with cheesecake frosting

(serves 10 and can be frozen, uniced)

175 g. soft butter
175 g. golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
225 g. self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
142 ml carton soured cream
3 x 125 punnets blueberries (or you could save money and buy a bag of frozen blueberries from Waitrose for in the cake and just buy one punnet of blueberries to go on top. If using the frozen blueberries, don't defrost them before baking - just chuck them in frozen).


Cheesecake frosting

200 g. tub philadelphia cream cheese
100 g. icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to fan oven 160, conventional oven 180 and butter and line the base of a loose based 22 cm round cake tin with non-stick baking paper (or reusable bake-o-glide which they sell ready cut at Lakeland (www.lakelandlimited.com) and which is fantastic)).

2. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes or with a hand-held electric mixer for 1-2 minutes until lighter coloured and well mixed. Beat in 4 tbsp soured cream then stir in half the blueberries with a large spoon (and see note above re. blueberries).

3. Tip the mixture into the tin and spread it level. Bake the cake for 50 mins or until it is risen, is 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 or lining. Leave to finish cooling on a wire rack. To freeze, wrap it in greaseproof paper and then aluminium foil or a freezer bag and pop it in the freezer. Defrost thoroughly before continuing..

4. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar and the remaining soured cream in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Spread over the top of the coole cake and scatter with the remaining blueberries. The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days but tastes best at room temperature, so take it out an hour before serving.

PS - a thought - this would probably work really well with raspberries (frozen for the cake) as well? Strawberries too but they might bleed into the cake. Still worth a shot. Also - if you're using either of the above options I sometimes pander to my daughter's tendencies and add a little juice from one or two squashed and sieved pieces of fruit to make the icing naturally pink. Lovely! Also - the icing works really well on any kind of fruity / vanilla / lemony sponge.