TRUE BLUE(BERRY)

As if we needed any more excuses to ditch the bikini diet, we have homemade cakes in the GLAMOUR office on the last Friday of every month. It’s partly because there are so many great cooks among us, but also because we’re women so we love sugar and we’ll find any excuse to eat it! Today our fashion bookings editor Eleanor made this Blueberry cake, from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. It is incredible – light, tart, sweet and creamy. An insanely good summer treat. She says to tell you that the recipe below makes more than enough mixture, so only fill your cake tin 2/3 full and use the rest to make cupcakes!

Hummingbird’s Blueberry cake

350 g unsalted butter
350 g caster sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
450 g plain flour
2 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
280 ml soured cream
250 g fresh blueberries, plus extra to decorate
300 g icing sugar, sifted
50 g unsalted butter
125 g cream cheese, cold

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Grease and dust a 25 cm ring mould.
Mix sugar and butter and cream until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time while mixing well, be sure to scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl.
Beat in the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder until well mixed.
Add the soured cream and mix well until everything is combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.
Gently stir in the blueberries by hand until evenly dispersed.
Pour the mixture into the ring mould (about 2⁄3 full) and smooth over with a palette knife or a spatula.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Leave the cake to cool slightly in the mould before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar and butter on medium- slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. It can become runny, so do not overbeat.
When the cake is cold, cover the top and sides with Cream Cheese Frosting and decorate with more blueberries.