#GBBOBloggers2016 – Week One – Drizzle Cake

I have a confession to make, and this may shock some of you out there, especially those who have known me as A Cupcake Mum and as Sitting Pretty Vintage Tea Room. You all know already that I love baking, and cake, and everything about being in the kitchen and being a foodie, it’s very obvious. My confession is… I have never watched or followed Great British Bake Off.

I will let that bombshell drop a little while I try and explain why. I have a couple of reasons why I do not follow it. First off, reality TV does my head in.  Can’t stand to watch people who are passionate about something being told that they are not good enough. It is soul destroying for me. I have been asked previously to go on Come Dine With Me, twice, and have turned it down. I do what I do because I love doing it, not for the validation. I am not a competitive person and I hate playing board games for that reason too. But with the start of the new series of Bake Off just starting on BBC, the bloggers bake off caught my eye. 
Using the themes from each week, we are challenged following the show to come up with a new recipe to blog about before Monday – join in with the nattering about cake and baking on the Facebook group, twitter and share our bakes in the bloggers linky. It’s not competitive, it’s more challenging and fun, a supportive community of bloggers coming together with a shared love of cake.

So, here I am, week one challenge was to choose from; 

Drizzle Cake

Mirror Glaze 

Jaffa Cakes 

I went for the Drizzle Cake as we do love a good drizzle in this house, but decided to perk it up and put a new spin on things.  

Blueberry, Passion Fruit and Lemon Drizzle Cake

For the cake 

400g Self Raising Flour 

400g Caster Sugar 

12g5 Butter

4 large eggs 

3tbsp milk (more if required)

Zest of one lemon

120g frozen blueberries 

For the drizzle 

200ml of creme fresh

3 tbsp passion fruit curd

8 tbsp icing sugar 

Juice of one lemon

Method 

Pre-heat oven to 170c or equivalent, I am using a fan oven. Prep a baking sheet with suitable cake tin. I love using textured silicone baking moulds as they come out so easily. My cake mould is 8 inch x 3.5 inch high to give a deep cake.

In a bowl, combine flour and sugar, dice in the butter and then rub into breadcrumbs with finger tips, like when making scones. Once you have a fine breadcrumb mixture,  crack in the eggs, add the milk and lemon zest and mix to form a velvety smooth cake batter. It should not be too stiff, add more milk if required. Mix well, I did this by hand but you can always use a kitchen aid if you have one.  

Pour cake mix into baking tin or mould, scatter over the frozen blueberries and swirl these into the cake mixture but not too much as you want to avoid making the cake turn completely purple!  Pop into the pre-heated oven for around 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. 

While the cake is baking, in another bowl, combine the creme fresh, curd, icing sugar and lemon juice to taste.  It will look like a runny custard. 

When the cake is cooked through, turn out onto a serving plate, poke holes all over the surface of the cake, then spoon on as much drizzle as you desire. The drizzle will pool around the bottom of the cake and keep it moist.  The remaining drizzle can be put in a jug to serve along side your cake. 

Now sit back with a cuppa, your feet up, plate if cake in hand and enjoy the bank holiday. I know that’s what we will be doing in The Motherhood Household. 

Let me know below what you would put into a drizzle cake or which of the challenges from this week you would tackle.

Thanks you to Jenny at Mummy Mishaps for hosting the Bake Off again this year.

Oh… final thought. The other reason I do no like bake off is because Paul Hollywood’s eyes are weird!