Blueberry Butterfly Cakes Food

BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a cupcake tin with 10 cases. To make the sponge, tip the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and milk into a large mixing bowl and beat with either a hand whisk or electric mixer until smooth, pale and combined. Divide the batter between the cases and bake for 15 mins until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool.
• While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream by beating together the icing sugar, butter and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Mix in the extra milk if the icing feels too stiff.
• Once the cakes are cool, use a sharp knife to slice off the tops, then cut the tops in half. Pipe or spread the buttercream on top of the cakes, then gently push two semi-circular halves into the buttercream on each cake, doing this at an angle to look like butterfly wings. You can serve the cupcakes at this stage, or decorate them with a little blob of jam in the centre and a scattering of sprinkles, if you like.

LEMON BLUEBERRY SNACKING CAKE

Steps:

• To make the blueberry compote: Add the blueberries, lemon juice and granulated sugar to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries begin to soften and release their juices, about 3 minutes. Use the back of a wooden spoon to slightly smash some of the berries. Turn the heat down to low and continue to cook until saucy, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the heat off and let cool to room temperature.
• For the lemon cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture to break up any lumps of flour and to evenly incorporate the ingredients. Set the dry ingredients aside.
• Add the milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract to a measuring cup. Whisk to evenly incorporate the ingredients. Set the wet ingredients aside.
• Add the butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to medium and cream the butter and sugar together, scraping down the bowl as needed, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to be fully incorporated before adding another. Add the lemon zest and beat until just combined.
• With the mixer on low, add the dry and wet ingredients, alternating between the two, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated, being sure not to overmix the batter.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Spoon on the blueberry compote. Use a butter knife to fold and swirl the compote into the batter. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.
• Spoon the Frosting onto the cooled cake and use an offset spatula to smooth the frosting over the cake. Garnish with the fresh blueberries.
• Slice and serve immediately or cover and leave at room temperature until ready to serve.
• Add the cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and vanilla to a mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat the ingredients together until smooth and well combined. Add 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar to the bowl and beat, starting the hand mixer on low and turning the speed up as the sugar is incorporated, until completely smooth. Add the remaining 2 cups confectioners' sugar and once again beat until completely smooth, about 30 seconds.

BLUEBERRY CRUMB CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.
• For the streusel:
• Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.
• For the cake:
• Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. With your fingers,
• crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.

BLUEBERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Butter a 22cm cake tin, line the bottom with baking parchment. Put a third of the frozen blueberries aside, sprinkle the rest with flour, set aside (do not defrost).
• In a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs until smooth, add the vegetable oil, lemon zest and juice and yogurt. Combine the wet ingredients with the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt using a whisk. Don't worry if a few lumps remain. Add the blueberries mixed with flour.
• Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining berries on top. Put the tin in the oven, reduce the temperature to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Bake for 1 hr 10 mins-1hr 20 mins or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. After removing from the baking tin, sprinkle the cake with icing sugar, if you like.

ALICE'S EASY BLUEBERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Sift 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract; mix into a semi-thick batter.
• Toss blueberries with about 2 teaspoons flour in a separate bowl; fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cake is lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Brush melted butter on top of cake and sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons sugar. Continue to bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 5 to 10 more minutes.

BERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch baking dish or pan (square or round is OK) with oil and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and 1 cup sugar. In a separate medium bowl, whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt to combine. Whisk wet ingredients into dry until just combined. (Some small lumps are fine.) Toss berries on a plate with remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Fold into batter and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
• Sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 53 to 58 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Cake will keep, loosely wrapped at room temperature, for about 4 days.

FAMILY FUN'S BUTTERFLY CAKE (FOR DUMMIES)

Steps:

• *Note: I must confess that I cheated and used a box of 'Baker Josef's Golden Yellow Cake Mix' from Trader Joe's. Sincere apologies to my loyal fans who depend on me for made-from-scratch recipes. Also, it's worth mentioning I made two cakes-one using a standard 9" pie pan and the other using a 9" cast iron skillet. The cake baked in the cast iron skillet turned out far better. To remove the cake from the pan *after it has cooled completely*, first take a knife and run along the edge of the pan to loosen. Place a wire cookie rack over the top of the pan, invert carefully and set aside. I used two spatulas and carefully moved the cake from the wire rack to the cake serving plate to frost it. This method worked best for this inexperienced cake baker. Two cakes were made in case of any mistakes. The second cake was cut in half then in half again and made into "baby butterflies".
• Other candy decorating suggestions: M&Ms (regular or mini size), gummy candy, non pareils, sprinkles, etc.
• Once cake has baked and cooled *completely*, cut the cake in half (see photo) and place the two halves close together with the flat/straight cut side facing out and curved sides facing each other (leave about a 3/4" gap between the two halves).
• Frost. For my test cake: The main body/wings and Twinikie were frosted yellow, the inner body pink. I made a pattern out of a piece of paper for the inner wing design. Placed the piece on paper on the cake halves and using a toothpick made small holes around the edge of the pattern as my guide. Then I carefully drew the line with the toothpick. Remove paper and frosted the main section first then the inner wing. (See photo.).
• Frost the Twinkie and place it on top of the two cut cake halves between the wings for the butterfly's body.
• *Decorate the wings with candies and adding licorice antennae to the Twinkie. (I just curled the ends of the licorice and placed the pieces on the plate.).
• *Tip: it's best to decorate the cake right before serving [depending] on the candies you choose. As an example, if you use M&M candies, the dye will run and stain the frosting. Fortunately I was able to frost the cake the day before and due to the type of candies used had no staining problems.

BLUEBERRY LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan oven. Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin then line the base and ends with grease proof paper.
• Put the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer for 5 minutes until pale and creamy - the mixture will be very thick.
• Spread one-quarter of the mix into the tin, then scatter over a third of the fruit.
• Carefully dot and spread another quarter of the cake mix on top, and scatter with another third of the fruit, repeat this step.
• Finally dot the rest of the cake mix over and gently spread with the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 1 hour until an inserted skewer comes out clean, then leave to cool.
• Mix the icing sugar and soft cheese to make the frosting then smooth onto the top of the cake. I normally start with 100g of soft cheese and add as much icing sugar as I think it needs.