Last week Friday I was invited to take part in the ‘Biggest Coffee Morning’ on record. It’s Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event of the year, where people across the UK hold a coffee morning and raise money for people living with cancer. In 2013, 154,000 people signed up, raising a record £20 million.
At my work place the coffee stations were situated in various buildings to meet the sweet tooth decaying cravings of as many people as possible. By 10am the official ‘opening time’ colleagues had already forming queues making a mental selection of the cake slices they wanted, because once it was gone, that was it.
There was a stunning selection of cakes on display from swiss rolls to red velvet and cupcakes to pastries. I donated three cakes to the event: a carrot and apple cake (already featured on the blog), cinnamon buns and a blueberry and lemon sponge cake.
The recipes for each of those cakes are featured on this blog!
Blueberry Lemon Sponge Cake
This has to be one of the most decadent cakes I have ever made: the sponge is moist and fluffy with a good dose of lemon flavour in it. The blueberry cream is made up of a quick blueberry Jam made with fresh blueberries and rich cream cheese. I made this cake for my birthday as layer cake, baking the cake in 3 separate tins and then sandwiching them together with a quick blueberry butter cream (excuse the wipe marks on the plate)
The key to the amazing texture of the cake is to whip the cream before adding it to the batter and then baking it in an oven that has been pre-heated at a medium/low temperature.
2 3/4 cups (345g) flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt 1 1/4 cups (285g) unsalted butter 3 cups (600g) sugar 1/3 cup (80ml) canola oil zest from 4 large lemons 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 6 eggs 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream For the Fresh Blueberry Cream 2 cups (300g) fresh blueberries 3 tablespoons (45g) sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch finely grated zest from 1/2 a medium lemon Two 8oz (225g) packages cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup (1 stick or 113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 1/4 cups (270g) powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract pinch of kosher or sea salt Method Preheat the oven at Gas Mark 4. Bake on the middle oven rack for 50-60 minutes (about 40 mins for the shallow tins), or until a toothpick comes out clean near the center. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on to a cooling rack. For the Blueberry Butter cream MethodBlueberry Lemon Sponge Cake
Can’t wait to add this to my thanksgiving menu!
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Thank you Dlaiaa!
It was a real pleasure baking for such a worthy cause! I look forward to hearing your reviews once you’ve made it! Thanksgiving is not far away now 😉
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This is phenomenal and a cause close to my heart! Brilliantly done wish my fundraiser generated such a turn out and financial outcome! Keep rocking it what a good deed for those in need.
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Wow! MacMillan is a major in the fundraising business! And clearly you’re heading in that direction in the cake making business, Loretta. What a drooling photo! Think I’ll have to go back to last week’s loaf and start with that one though, rather than look too much at that sponge cake with such a delightful covering … Should try the loaf this week!
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Thank you! Please send me pictures of your recipes, I would love to see them 🙂
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Yum! Cakes do taste better with cream in the batter for a luxurious taste… Coconut milk does the same thing too! Do you make up your own cake recipes in your spare time?
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I do create my own cake recipes yes, but this is not one of them, this was combination of recipes that I found…;-)
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Nice
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