Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Fresh Blueberry and Lemon Cake Recipe


There are very few organic items that are naturally blue. In the food category, there are a number of things which we refer to as "blue", but which are not really blue. Blue cheese is actually grey or green, blue crabs lose their color when cooked, blue potatoes are actually purple, and blue kale is actually green. Blue corn is usually purple, although some of it is legitimately blue.

On the other hand, there are a number of edible blue items that are artificially flavored – blue curaçao, one of my favorite spirits, is made from the dried peel of bitter oranges and is dyed an electric blue. Incidentally, it changes color inside your body (as my friend Jana and I can attest). There was also Bridget Jones’ famous blue soup, discolored by melted plastic; and blue colored M&Ms and smarties, which have recently been banned in the UK since they are artificially dyed.


Psychologists say blue is a relaxing color with a positive influence on mental and physical performance. Some weight loss plans suggest serving food on a blue plate since it is reported to be an appetite suppressant.

My favorite "blue" food is blueberries. Despite the fact that they aren't really blue, they star in this week’s recipe.


Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure lemon oil
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup milk (skim, whole or soy)

Directions1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a bundt pan with butter and then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour.
2. Mix 2 1/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add lemon oil.
5. As you stir, add half the flour mixture, then milk, then remaining flour mixture.
6. Toss blueberries in remaining 1/4 cup flour. Dredging fruit keeps it suspended in cake batter and prevents it from sinking during baking.
7. Fold blueberries into batter and pour into bundt pan.
8. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9. Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes, and turn onto a wire rack to completely cool.
10. Optional: dust with powdered (confectioner's) sugar when cool. The best way to get an even dusting is to put the sugar into a sieve or a tea infuser and tap lightly over the cake.
The cake should last about 5 days if wrapped in saran wrap and placed under a cake dome or in an airtight container.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey Aly !

How much lemon zest instead of the lemon oil ?

Freddie

AKR said...

Hey Freddie,

I would recommend 1 tablespoon of lemon which is what you will get from one lemon. Remember to only remove the yellow part of the skin. The white part is bitter and far less aromatic.

Cheers,
AKR

Shilpa said...

Wow, that cake looks so perfect with that light dusting of icing sugar!!

Those psychologists may have a point about serving stuff on a blue plate. But since I'm the kind who enjoys blue artificially-coloured candy, it might not work on me! :)

cheese with a spoon said...

Arre, why do diners have blue-plate specials then?!?

That cake looks soft and toothsome. I can taste it from here.

ashindi said...

Hi Aly,
My friend Naima came to visit this weekend and she wanted me to let you know that she is buying a bundt pan just to make this cake...And that this is her very favorite blog. Aww. I didn't want to forget to pass this on, so thought I'd post it here.

Myself, I have a long term plan. I bought a blueberry bush this weekend. But I learned that my plant will only produce berries if I buy it a companion that is not closely related so they can cross-fertilize. Once I get everybody properly mated and have some blueberries of my own, this cake and I have a date too. It's going to take some time, but we have to have a vision, right? Thanks for inspiring mine!

Anonymous said...

Hope you're well! Just wanted to say that I love receiving
these treat-a-week updates. Unfortunately, I cook much less often than I'd like to, but I still love reading the recipes and the stories and tidbits that accompany them.

Jason

david said...

this turned out way better than i had anticipated. i replaced the lemon with 2 tsps vanilla, per your suggestion for those of us who don't like citrus desserts. also didn't have a bundt pan so made a short circle cake. serves just as nicely.

Anonymous said...

just made the blueberry lemon cake from your blog. yum! thanks for a great recipe:)

Anonymous said...

I recently made the blueberry bundt cake for company. It's hard to find good bundt cake recipes, and that one was so fresh and delicious.