Good food and food company

I believe good food makes people happy. Good food and good company make for a fantastic night. And good food, good company and a great bottle/s of wine is always memorable. I started getting into baking when I wasn't the happiest in life, it acted as an escape for me and also gave me something to be passionate about and enjoy. Eating the food was also amazing, however did cause a fair bit of weight gain - so a lesson, moderation ;-).

I find my baking can make others happy. I am filled with pride when I present a layer cake to a friend or family member to celebrate their birthday. I love hearing the mmmmmmm from people when they take the first bite of a treat I've lovingly prepared. And I love when friends or family ask me to bake something for them, as it shows my passion has transferred to them and they want to share good food with their friends or family. (My photography is not great though, so I think that should be the next thing I work on...)

This recipe is for my uncle. He has shared many cakes and desserts with me and during the week asked if I could make something special for a lunch party he was throwing. Blueberries are just coming back into season here, so I decided on a blueberry sour cream cake with a white chocolate cream cheese icing. I was later told it was a hit!

Blueberry Sour Cream Cake
Adapted from Taste.com.au
500g butter, at room temperature
430g caster sugar
2 tbs finely grated lemon rind
8 eggs, at room temperature
450g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup lemon juice
425g sour cream
2 punnets of blueberries, washed and towel dry
500g cream cheese, softened
100g icing sugar
150g white chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base and side of a large non-stick round cake pan then dust with icing sugar.

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, caster sugar and lemon rind together until pale and creamy. Make sure you have a big bowl, as there is a lot of ingredients and a medium size bowl will be too small. Also, a tip if you butter isn't at room temperature, grate it into the bowl before beating.Next, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the flour, baking powder in a separate bowl and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice to the sour cream and stir until just combined. Mix the flour and the sour cream into the butter mixture alternatively in 3 additions. Final, fold through dry blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the pan and using the back of a spoon, smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour and a half or until a skewer inserted in the centres comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes before turning on to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat the creamcheese and icing sugar until smooth. Pour in the cooled melted white chocolate and continue to beat until well combined and smooth. When cakes are completely cooled, spread the cream cheese over the top, or cut the cake into layers and use some cream cheese to fill inbetween the layers as well as the top of the cake. Eat at room temperature. ENJOY!

I had so much mixture that I was also able to make four smaller cakes (about cupcake size). You could make a batch of 12 cupcakes with the above, just half the ingredients (except the icing, I find it's good to have a lot of icing!).