Last Tuesday I was meant to be going along to York Central Clandestine Cake Club’s event.  Family circumstances with my hubby working away up in Scotland and my daughter’s horse needing looking after, I had to cancel going along to the event.  Unfortunately I only found out that my hubby had to go away a day earlier one day before when I had already bought the ingredients to make my cake.

The theme for the event was “A Royal Baby Bonanza.” Although the event was planned before Prince George’s birth last month, it was exciting to think up of a cake that could celebrate this occasion.  First I spotted a baby novelty cake in a Jane Asher book I use a lot for birthday cakes. I had the idea of decorating the cake so that the baby had a nappy on with a crown on the front. Then I thought people might not want to eat the cake if it was covered in sugarpaste.  I prefer cakes with flavour.

I then turned to my other recipe books and remembered a great recipe I have made in the past. It is from the Hummingbird Bakery Recipe Book and is their recipe for their Blueberry and Sour Cream ring cake.  I have made this cake before in my round Bundt tin and it is covered in cream cheese frosting.  It had gone down well in the past and the “blue” from the blueberries would fit in with Blue for a Boy, etc!

Despite not being able to go to the event, I still had all the ingredients to use up. I love blueberries and could have eaten them without putting them into a cake but I had sour cream and cream cheese to use up.  We always have a pudding for Sunday lunch and it wasn’t going to be too rich for my hubby to enjoy.

Last month I also bought two new NordicWare Bundt pans.  I was keen to try them out and decided to bake my blueberry cake in my heart cake pan instead. To make the cake I creamed butter and caster sugar together in my mixer, then added 6 eggs one by one to the mix.  Plain flour, baking powder and vanilla extract were then added to the bowl. Once this was mixed in, I then added some sour cream and finally folded in the blueberries.  The cake pan had been greased with Cake Release and a little bit of flour before I tipped everything in.

The cake took about an hour to bake although I was watching it carefully so that it wouldn’t burn.  We were meant  to be going out on a dog walk so I was keen to have it out of the oven and cooling down on the side while I was out of the house.  There have been times before where I have got a cake out of it’s tin when it was still too hot and then it’s fallen apart on me!

Once back from our walk an hour or so later the cake slid out of the pan easily onto the cooling rack. Normally it comes out in about 3 parts or with some stuck in grooves on the tin! As I didn’t want to spoil the look of the heart I decided against the cream cheese frosting. I then turned to my Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook where Rachel McGrath has her Achey Cakey Heart cake recipe.  This is a vanilla yoghurt flavoured bundt cake but I took the decorating idea from her cake. I mixed up some lavender coloured glace icing and put it into a piping bag. This was piped on without a nozzle but with a tiny corner of the bag snipped off.  Before it had chance to dry I put on the remaining blueberries and dusted the cake with icing sugar.

The cake was very big for a family meal time so most of it has ended up being cut up and put into boxes for the freezer.  It was well liked though and I would love to make it again!

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx