I don’t think there’s anything more fantastic in the summer than a big bowl of blueberries. I eat them in the morning, sprinkled over a bowl of cereal with soy milk. I eat them mixed with Greek yogurt or whipped cream. I love them in pie, and especially in this pound cake. While this moist, lemony concoction is delicious on its own, the addition of blueberries make it sublime, even fancy.
I brought this cake to the summer house of a friend’s parents in Connecticut. I’m always wary of bringing a never-before-tried-by-me recipe to strangers, but I figured there was little harm a pound cake could do. I unveiled the cake on Saturday afternoon (we ate it after a damn good Chinese Chicken salad, courtesy of Cynthia Rothstein). It was nearly gone by the next day. This was a big cake, too, so I consider it an official success. It was even brought over to the neighbors. That’s quite an endorsement.
The great thing about pound cake is that it works for any meal. It makes a lovely weekend breakfast, lingered over the New York Times and dunked in coffee. It’s one of the best desserts after a barbecue or picnic. It’s a perfect late-night treat, washed down with a cold glass of milk. And it’s a wonderful snack to bring on a boat, too. How nice would it be to anchor a boat in the middle of a lake, pull out a good book and dig in to a piece of blueberry pound cake? Pretty nice.
This cake gave me an excuse to buy my very first bundt cake pan. Sure, visions of My Big Fat Greek Wedding flashed before my eyes (remember that scene where Jon Corbett’s parents bring a “boondt” cake to his new in-laws?), and I sort of felt like a 1950s housewife, but I have to say, thus bundt cake pan makes me feel grown up. Sophisticated. That’s partially because I purchased it at Williams Sonoma, which just screams ADULTHOOD.
It’s kind of fun to have a cake pan for one specific purpose. It’s not like a pot or a muffin tin that you can make anything in. The bundt cake pan is designed to make one thing and it is a thing of beauty. I happened to take a tour of Sarabeth’s Bakery at Chelsea market a few weeks ago, and quite fortuitously, I learned that one must “butter the life” out of a bundt cake pan. Flour it for all it’s worth, too. There’s really no way you can pry this kind of cake out of its pan, so remember: Butter. Flour. When you think you’ve done too much, add a little bit more.
It wouldn’t be fair to give the blueberries all the credit for making this cake so spectacular. The lemon (extract, juice and zest) provided a welcome tartness that balances the sweet berries and the..ahem..three cups of sugar. The lemon flavor makes you do a double take on that first bite, and could likely prompt one to say, “Wow! Lemons!” I plan to use some form of lemon in all my future pound cakes. I also plan to bring some form of pound cake to all the new people I am trying to impress.
P.S. Dave, wonderful Dave, got me a Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday! I'm in love - with him, and with it. This is the very first thing I've made with the mixer, and I'm never looking back.
Blueberry Pound Cake
Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook
Note: This cake yielded a ton of batter. It took about an hour and ten minutes to cook through in my oven. Though the recipe says to bake the cake for 55-65 minutes, I would allow for a bit more time. Just check the cake frequently, and tent it with foil if it starts to brown.
Ingredients
4 sticks of softened butter
3 c. sugar
6 eggs
4 c. flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. whole milk
2 tsp lemon extract
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
2 c plus 1 handful of blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour the entire bundt cake pan. No scrimping!
In a mixer on high speed cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well (either by hand or with the mixer on low speed) after each. Set mixture aside.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix together the milk, lemon extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add dry and wet ingredients alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry. Gently fold blueberries into the mixture.
Spread the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan. Bake 50-65 minutes, or up to 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate. Cool completely before serving.
A sprinkling of confectioner's sugar and scattered berries are nice additions when serving this cake on a special occasion. But I think it's pretty special on its own.
