Recipe: Granny's blueberry scones with blueberry compote

My Granny is the Baking Queen: everything she bakes turns out perfectly, which makes me very jealous! Whenever she bakes scones, I have to force myself to not eat them all at once - plain, fruit, but especially blueberry flavoured, since blueberries are my favourite fruit of all! When I went home last week I had so many blueberry scones; last night I decided to bake some myself since I missed them so much, and whipped up some blueberry compote this morning to go with them at brunch. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
8 oz / 225g self-raising flour (or 8 oz / 225g plain flour and 3 level tsp baking powder)
2 oz / 60g butter, in pieces (I use Stork)
2 oz / 60g white sugar
handful or two of blueberries
milk

...and for the compote:
handful of blueberries
1 tbsp white sugar
dash of lemon juice

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (fan oven).
2. In a mixing bowl, rub the butter and flour together until you get what looks a bit like breadcrumbs. I find this is easiest with butter straight out of the fridge and cut into small chunks.

3. Mix in the sugar and blueberries using your hands.
4. Add milk to the mixture a splash at a time, and mix together using your hands. Be careful not to add too much, you just want enough so that the mixture sticks together.

5. At this stage, my Granny rolls the mixture out and cuts out scone shapes with a cutter. Because I'm lazier, I just grab chunks of the mixture and form ball shapes in my hand, then flatten them out slightly and place them onto a piece of baking parchment, placed on a baking tray.

6. Pop them into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. I usually check after 15 minutes; if they look a bit pale on the top or feel too squidgy, I leave them for a couple more minutes.

7. While the scones are cooking, tip all the compote ingredients into a small saucepan, and cook over a low heat until the blueberries have popped and the mixture has a sort of runny jammy texture. Stir it occasionally in case the compote sticks to the pan.

8. When they're ready, take the scones out of the oven. They taste delicious cut in half straight away (be careful not to burn yourself!) with butter smeared on them, or with the compote poured on top!

Recipe: Strawberry Milkshake Sponge Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream

I went to a friend's barbecue yesterday, and took along this gorgeous cake! It's super easy to make, looks and tastes like the perfect summer cake and went down an absolute treat! Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:
200g caster sugar (you can use granulated if you don't have caster to hand)
200g plain flour
200g butter (if you leave it out to soften a little at room temperature it's much easier to mix)
4 eggs
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp strawberry milkshake powder (I used Nesquik)
dash of vanilla essence
dash of red food dye
and for the buttercream:
80g butter
200g white chocolate
250g icing sugar
and a large punnet of strawberries to decorate

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 170C (fan)/190C and beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl
2. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl
3. Add the baking powder, 1/2 of the flour and 1/2 of the eggs to the butter and sugar, and mix together
4. Add the remaining flour, eggs, milk, milkshake powder, vanilla and food dye to the mixture and mix together thoroughly
5. Line two cake tins with butter and greaseproof paper, then pour the mixture evenly into them
6. Bake for about 20 minutes
7. While the cake is baking, melt the white chocolate
8. Beat the butter and 1/3 of the icing sugar together
9. Add the melted chocolate and 1/3 of the icing sugar and mix together
10. Beat the rest of the icing sugar into the mixture until it is mixed thoroughly. You may need to add more icing sugar depending on the consistency of your buttercream: it should be stiff enough to hold its shape
11. When the sponges are cooked, let them cool, then spread half the buttercream on top of one of the sponges, and place halved (or quartered if they're large) strawberries in a ring around the edge
12. Place the other sponge carefully on top, spread the rest of the buttercream on the top and place the rest of the strawberries all over the top

Tips:

Use an electric mixer if you have one, as this gives the cake a lighter texture, makes it rise a little more and is a lot easier on your arms!

My favourite method for melting chocolate is to boil water in a saucepan, then place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan, and stir until it's all melted. It's a lot safer than risking it burning in the microwave, and gives a more even consistency

This cake is perfect for a garden party or barbecue, it looks so summer! I'm thinking of making a strawberry and blueberry version for my family's Jubilee party!