Belated Secret Santa Party

Two of my old friends (who had one of the most glamorous weddings I have ever been to, on the coast of Greece, but that's another story) are having a belated Christmas lunch / secret Santa party. We were asked to bring something, so, not succumbing to the Christmas theme (it is, after all, after 6 January and therefore some might say bad luck to do all things Christmassy), I decided to make a loaf cake. 

I chose one of my new favourite baking books, Cake Days by Tarek Malouf and the Hummingbird Bakers and published in 2011. It's a beautiful, girly pink hardback book and follows the wonderful Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, also one of my favourites from which I have baked most of the recipes.

I chose the Blueberry and Soured Cream Loaf.I've made it before, and it tasted beautiful - soft, moist and just the right sweetness. Stats are below:

190g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

190g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

190g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

25ml sour cream

120g fresh or frozen (but defrosted) blueberries - I use fresh, and slightly more than they say,as I like my cake rather more blueberry-ish

One 1/5x17.5cm loaf tin with 7.5cm sides.

Serves 8-10 (or one hungry man)

I took advantage of this recipe to try out my new Kitchen Aid flex edge beater, a Christmas gift from my boyfriend. For anyone who cares, it worked wonderfully - no need for a spatula part way through mixing, perfect. and for anyone that doesn't have a Kitchen Aid - get one, it's changed my life. I have one in Boysenberry:

 Now for the science bit. Preheat the oven to 170 C, and then grease and dust your baking tin.

I like to start baking with all the ingredients ready before I start, so had everything weighed out, the butter softened (in a small pan over heat, as the butter came straight out of the fridge) and the flour, baking powder and salt sifted into a bowl. 

I whisked together the sugar and butter at a medium speed until the butter and sugar mix had paled slightly and looked light and fluffy. One by one, I added the three eggs to the mix (still on medium speed in the KitchenAid) until they were fully incorporated. Then added the sifted flour, baking powder and salt to the egg and butter mix, half at a time, until the flour was just incorporated. Finally, I added the sour cream.

Then, I switched off the Kitchen Aid, clipped out the bowl and mixed in the blueberries by hand with a spatula. Once they were evenly mixed in, I poured the mix into the prepared baking tin.

The cake was ready after for 50 minutes. My oven seems reasonably hot, so it may need a little more in other ovens and I'd recommend (as always) testing with a skewer to make sure that no baking mix sticks to it. It smells beautiful - maybe I could eat it now and make another for tomorrow.....?