Feeling Blue? Cake will make it better.

Apparently cake releases endorphins that make you feel a surge of pleasure and triggers the release of insulin into the bloodstream, which in turn clears out all of the amino acids in the bloodstream except for tryptophan. In the brain, Tryptophan is converted into serotonin. Therefore cake can also comfort by producing serotonin which is the happy hormone. No wonder cake makes the world a happier place.

I have also been reading recently that eating blueberries can also elevate your mood and protect your memory [so you can remember all those fun times back in the days of your youth!]. So I thought why not try combining the two?

Blueberries are my favourite berries and I can demolish a punnet within minutes without assistance. Sometimes they are good with some yogurt and some oats and nuts for an alternative breakfast. I've have on occasion heated them up with some caster sugar and a shot of vanilla extract to make a compote to pour over cold ice cream as a fast dessert option, but I have never baked with them before. So I decided to have a go at a Blueberry Cake.

These little nuggets of anti-oxidants and shots of Vitamin C are generally regarded as a super food and are very healthy. However I am in no way suggesting that this is a nutritious or healthy cake because of the inclusion of berries! You can pretend it counts as one of your 5 a day if it makes you feel any better but the recipe calls for almost a whole pack of butter and just as much sugar!

I found the recipe in Delicious magazine as a tray bake but I tweaked it slightly in that I used lemon, orange and lime juice and zest instead of just lemons. I also used a round spring form tin instead of a square tin and I bunged everything in a food processor rather than using an electric whisk.

The result was a wonderfully fluffy and light cake with a tang of citrus. The blueberries unfortunately all sank to the bottom giving the cake a squidgy base but a crispy top with citrus icing gave it a contrasting texture. I personally think baking them took away the blueberry-ness from the berries and I wish I had kept some behind to garnish the cake with at the end, for a burst of fresh juice when biting into the slice. Still pretty tasty though - one of the rare occasions when one of my cakes has been good enough 1st time round to make into the blog instead of multiple tweaking and testing sessions!

Ingredients:

250g self raising flour
225g caster sugar
225g softened unsalted butter
200g blueberries
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
3 tbsp milk
grated zest of 3 lemons / zest of 1 lemon + 1 orange + 1 lime

Icing:

Juice of the lemon, the orange and the lime [or the 3 lemons if only using lemons] mixed and heated with enough caster sugar to your liking - then cooled to make a pouring syrup.

200g of Icing sugar

Equipment:

Food processor
Grater/Zester
Greased/Lined tin
Pre-heated oven to 180 degrees C

Method:

1. Measure out the dry goods [sift the flour and baking powder] and make sure the butter is soft [leave it in room temperature or heat for 30 seconds in the microwave].

2. Place dry ingredients and wet ingredients in the food processor and blitz until a batter forms.

3. Scrape the mix out and then fold in the berries.

4. Scrape the mix into the lined tin and place on the middle shelf and turn the oven down to 170 C degrees. Bake for 35-45min until golden on top and set.

Unfortunately, I opened the oven door too soon [after 35min] and the cake had risen beautifully but was still very soft on top. So I left it in the oven for another 10 minutes - which meant I had let hot air out of the oven and so the cake fell ever so slightly in the middle once it was taken out - oh well - you live and don't learn!]

5. While it cools on a rack make the syrup.

6. Poke a few holes in the cake and pour a tablespoon of the syrup into each one.

7. Once the cake is cool, mix the rest of the syrup bit by bit to the icing sugar to make a runny paste.

8. Drizzle the icing over the cake and leave to set for about an hour.

I've had to give most of this cake away as a Friday treat for hungry office workers. It's too good not to share and too tempting to have hanging round the house.

Next time I make it I may omit the citrus syrup and use blueberry compote as the syrup/dressing and garnish it with uncooked berries for presentation. I wonder if I can make blueberry icing.. hmmm.. It's a good cake - just needs loads more blueberries to really kick the blues to the kerb!